


Fragile Snow Butterfly lost in a Twisted Wonderland

by Youji_Akuma



Category: D.Gray-man, Kuroshitsuji | Black Butler, Twisted-Wonderland (Video Game)
Genre: Gen, Guess who's going to show up later, Slight mentioning of D.Gray-man, modern au for d.gray-man
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-04-18
Updated: 2021-02-19
Packaged: 2021-03-02 04:01:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 10
Words: 22,202
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23708797
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Youji_Akuma/pseuds/Youji_Akuma
Summary: Just as life was starting to become normal for her and her younger brother again, Yuki-Daicho Walker finds herself waking up in a strange and new world. One where she is somehow supposed to attend an all boys' school, Night Raven College. This becomes the least of her worries when she finds out that she isn't able to go home. Will she be able to find another way home? Or be forever lost wondering the wonderful and cruel world of the villains?
Relationships: Malleus Draconia/Original Character(s), Riddle Rosehearts & Original Character
Comments: 17
Kudos: 83





	1. Prologue: Come, little butterfly, and we'll show you a real happy ending

**Author's Note:**

> Since the game is not out in English, this will be a slow update. Hopefully the characters won't be too OOC later on but...I will try!

Prologue: Come, little butterfly, and we’ll show you a real happy ending

_ Ah...my beloved and beautiful flower of evil. _

A light groan escaped Yuki’s lips as she squeezed her eyes shut more as a voice slowly started to invade her subconsciousness.

__ _ You are the most beautiful in the world. _

She slowly turned onto her side, pulling the blanket up over her more, and snuggled into her pillow. She then took in a deep breath and slowly exhaled; letting her body relax more into her bed and fell even deeper into sleep.

__ _ Mirror, mirror, on the wall, who is the best- _

As Yuki slept on, the one mirror that she kept in her room started to glow an eerie white light. At first, it started out quite faint, but grew more intense as the seconds ticked by.

__ _ Guided by the Mirror of Darkness, if you ever so desire… _

As the mirror continued to let out a steady stream of light into the room, Yuki’s eyes slowly opened on their own, revealing unfocused eyes, before her body moved to sit up.

__ _ Take thy hand that lies within the mirror. _

Almost robotically, Yuki’s body moved to first pull the blanket off of her before swinging her legs over the edge of the bed and stood to her feet. She then slowly walked toward her mirror as it began to glow more brightly.

__ _ Flames that can turn even the stars to ashes. _

__ _ Ice that can freeze time. _

__ _ Earth that can swallow even the sky. _

As her body moved closer and closer to the mirror, her hand slowly started to stretch out toward it. However, just as the tips of her fingers were mere centimeters away from touching the glass, her body stopped moving forward and slowly started to pull her hand back. That is, until the voice spoke again.

__ _ Show no fear to the power of darkness. _

Upon hearing the words, Yuki’s body continued to move forward again, stretching her hand out once more. The moment her fingers touched the glass, it began to ripple like water before letting her hand go through first, followed by the rest of her body as she stepped through.

__ _ Come now, show me your power. _

Once the last bit of Yuki’s body was pulled through the mirror, the glass released one final ripple before becoming still again. The light that once came from it faded as quickly and quietly as it had come. Yuki-Daicho Walker was no longer part of the human world…

__ _ We only have a little bit of time left. _

She was now part…

__ _ At all costs, do not let go of that hand. _

Of the villains’ world.


	2. Welcome to the Villains' World, little butterfly

Chapter I: Welcome to the Villains’ World, little butterfly

The sound of someone, or something, trying their best to open a locked door was the first thing that Yuki heard as she slowly came into consciousness.

“ _Could have sworn I left it unlocked for him._ ” she thought as she let out a small yawn.

She was about to move her hand to rub her eye, but stopped when a voice spoke.

“Crap. People are already coming.” the voice said. “Gotta get this uniform on while…”

“ _That’s...not Allen’s voice._ ” Yuki thought, lowering her hand back down.

That was when she finally noticed that she wasn’t in her bed anymore, let alone her room. No, she was in a small and tight space with no light coming in, and the walls felt like they were made out of wood. She couldn’t help but take a gulp when she realized what it was that she might be in.

“Grr! This lid is too heavy.” she heard the voice from outside her “prison” say.

A small breath of relief left her lips as she remember that, whoever it was on the outside was trying to open this...thing. She didn’t want to think about, let alone call it, what it might actually be. She took in a small breath to help her get her bearings before opening her mouth to speak. However, the person on the other side spoke again before giving her the chance to do so.

“Time for...my secret move!” they said, followed by a groaning sound. This made Yuki very confused on what they were doing before hearing them exclaim, “There!”

A loud boom erupted in her eardrums before she saw the silhouette of the door being lit up by a blue flame. It stayed there for a good second or so before disappearing.

“What the hell?!” she exclaimed, jumping back a bit more into her “prison” before rubbing her eyes.

“Alright, okay! Now I just gotta-” the voice said before screaming when the lid on Yuki’s coffin was finally lifted. “Why are you up?!”

Yuki blinked her eyes, letting them adjust to the light first before looking for the owner of the voice. She, unfortunately for her, took note of the room she was currently in before her eyes fell on a bewildered looking...cat creature? She wasn’t too sure if it was supposed to be a cat or some sort of tanuki. She just knew that it was standing on its hindlegs, wearing a ribbon around its neck, and had blue flames coming out of its ears.

“What sort of tanuki are you supposed to be?” she asked as she carefully stepped out of the coffin.

“Just who are you calling a tanuki?!” the tanuki yelled, hopping out of her way. “I am the great Grim!”

“Uh-huh,” Yuki said, “Sure you are.”

The tanuki, Grim, let out a small growl as Yuki rolled her eyes at it. She let out a small breath before getting a better look around the room.

“Well, whatever.” Grim huffed, putting his paws on his hips, “Hey, human!”

“Yuki. And yes?” Yuki said as she looked down at Grim again, putting her own hand on her hip.

Grim smirked up at her as he spoke, “Hurry up and gimme those clothes!”

“Excuse you?!” Yuki exclaimed, glaring at the creature, her hand moving on instinct toward her other hip.

“You heard me! Gimme your clothes!” Grim said, showing no fear. “Otherwise...I’ll roast ya!”

Yuki jumped back a bit as the blue flames appeared again once Grim raised his paws into the air.

“Hey, watch it, tanuki!” she yelled, “There could be other people in those things!”

She pointed to the other coffins that were somehow floating in the room, but it fell on deaf ears as Grim became angered.

“I said I’m not a freaking tanuki!” he yelled.

“ _Shoot!”_ Yuki thought as she watched Grim move to raise his arms again. “ _He’s going to blow._ ” She took another look around the room, looking at the coffins specifically. “ _If there really are other people in those things, I rather not have them get hurt by him...or worse._ ”

Yuki slowly inched herself a bit away from Grim, before turning on her heel and booking it for the door. She heard Grim exclaim behind her before hearing him chase after her once she slammed the door open and continued running.

Everything became a blur to her as she kept on running, looking back every so often to see if Grim was still after her. Unfortunately, he was a few steps behind her, only managing to lose her for a bit if she cut a corner at the right time. Neither of them stopped till Yuki reached a dead end within what she believed to be a library.

“Where the heck am I?” Yuki muttered to herself as she tried to catch her breath.

She used one of the tables to lean on, moving to sit on it, before jumping when seeing blue fire burst in front of her. She quickly stomped it out with her foot before seeing Grim stand in front of her.

“Crap,” she muttered under her breath.

“Did you really think you’d get away from me? Dumb human!” Grim said with a smirk.

Yuki clicked her tongue as she stared down at him. Her hand moving on its own again to her hip as she stood up.

“If you don’t wanna get roasted, than you better hand ov-” Grim began before letting out a yelp as a cord wrapped itself tightly around his neck. “Ow! What’s with this cord?!”

“This is no mere “cord”. It is the lash of love!” a man wearing a mask over his face said as he walked closer to the two.

Yuki had jumped back against the table, catching herself, when the “lash of love” was wrapped around Grim’s neck. She felt a little sorry for him when seeing that it was just a whip that was now holding him, bringing up a few memories of her past, before her attention moved to the strange man as he approached her more.

“Ah, found you at last.” he said, a bit exasperated. “Now, you are a new student here, yes?”

“Uh…what?” was all Yuki could say to that as she looked up at the man, confusion clear on her face.

However, it fell on deaf ears as the man looked at her sternly before speaking again. “You shouldn’t do things like that. Leaving the Gate on your own! And not only that, you even brought in an untamed familiar with you and a sword! All of which is against school rules!”

“Sword?” Yuki said, blinking before looking down at her hip.

Sure enough, sitting nicely against her hip was her beloved black sword. And that wasn’t the only thing that made a lump form in her throat. She also noticed that she wasn’t wearing her pajamas that she wore to bed before waking up in this strange place. She was wearing something completely different. Black robes with gold embroidery at some of the edges with a deep purple fabric on the inside with even more gold embroidery. A shaky breath slowly left her lips as the reality sank in. However, before it could sink any further, Grim spoke up, snapping Yuki away from her troubling thoughts and back toward him.

“Let me go!” he said as he struggled to get out of the whip’s hold. “I’m not this human’s familiar!”

“Yes, yes, the rebellious ones always say that. Now, just quiet down for a moment, yes?” the man said as he went over to Grim, bending down and scooping him up into his arm.

He put a hand over his mouth which made Yuki slightly cringed when seeing the golden metal fingertips on the man’s hand. Grim tried to speak through it but all anyone could hear was muffled sounds. Once he had Grim in a secure hold, the man turned his attention to Yuki.

“My goodness. It’s unprecedented for a new student to leave the Gate on their own.” the man said with a sigh. “How impatient can you be?”

“Depends on the situation, sir.” Yuki said as she hugged herself a little to keep what little senses she had left intact. She opened her mouth to continue but the man cut her off.

“Well, well, the entrance ceremony is already well under way. Let’s head to the Hall of Mirrors now.” he said as he moved to Yuki’s side and gently put a hand on her back.

“Wait a minute. Entrance ceremony?” Yuki asked, looking up at him.

“Yes, it’s in the room you woke up in with all of those doors.” the man said as he gently lead Yuki out of the library.

“ _Does he mean the coffins?_ ” Yuki thought as she raised an eyebrow to his words.

“All students who wish to attend this academy must pass through one of those doors to arrive here.” the man explained. “Normally, students wake up only after the door is opened with a special key but…”

“But a certain tanuki blew mine pretty much off its hinges with fire.” Yuki said as she leaned over to give a glare to Grim.

He only looked away as the man spoke, “So in the end, the culprit appears to be the familiar. If you’re going to bring it with you, than you have to take responsibility for its actions.”

“But he’s not my famili-” Yuki began to protest but the man cut her off once more.

“Oh my! Now really isn’t the time to be chatting away like this. The entrance ceremony will be over soon. Let’s get a move on now.” he said as he picked up his pace, pushing Yuki more so she would keep up with him.

“W-wait, damn it!” Yuki said, “This doesn’t make any sense! What’s going on?! Where am I?”

“Hm? Are you still not fully awake?” the man asked as he looked down at Yuki. “It appears the teleportation magic has left you a bit disoriented...well, this is fine. It happens often enough. I shall give you an explanation as we make our way there. After all, I am quite kind.”

He gave Yuki a smile that didn’t put her nerves at ease at all as they made their way out of the library. She let out a small sigh before allowing herself to have a look at their surroundings as they walked on.

Once they had made it to the courtyard, the man leading her back to the room full of coffins cleared his throat, grabbing her attention away from the apple tree that they had just walked past.

“This is Night Raven College.” he began. “Magicians that have been blessed with a unique aptitude for magic gather from all over the world to train here at the most prestigious magical academy in Twisted Wonderland. And I am the headmaster, appointed to take care of this academy by the board chairman, Dire Crowley.”

Yuki’s eyes were about as wide as saucers as she listened to the man, Headmaster Crowley. Almost none of what he said made any sense to her. Sure, she knew a thing or two about magicians from one of her uncles. But she didn’t think she had the knack for it. And since when has there been a place called “Twisted Wonderland”? Where was it anyway? Many questions were swimming through her head as she tried to speak.

“Ma...magician?”

“The only ones who can enroll in this school are those with excellent qualifications to be a magician. The ones who have been approved by the Mirror of Darkness.” Headmaster Crowley explained. “The chosen ones are called into the academy through the door and are summoned here from all over the world.” Yuki slowly nodded her in understanding before the headmaster continued. “An ebony carriage carrying a Gate should have gone to meet you as well.”

“A what now?” Yuki said, taking a step away from the headmaster.

“An ebony carriage, child.” Headmaster Crowley said. “That carriage goes to welcome new students chosen by the Mirror of Darkness. It is a special carriage that carries a door to the academy. Since time immemorial, it has been decided by conventional wisdom that carriages should be used to welcome people on special days.”

If Yuki had thought herself confused before, she was more so now than ever before Headmaster Crowley told her about the ebony carriage. She didn’t remember seeing anything like that before she went to bed. As far as she could remember, nothing out of the ordinary happened while she and her younger brother were getting ready for bed. Nor does she remember hearing either of her uncles mentioning anything strange happening outside the house. She was sure Neah would have said something about a black carriage being outside if he saw it. She put a hand to her head, rubbing her temple as the information swirled in her mind. She swayed a little and the headmaster caught her before helping her along, Grim trying to speak again from under his hand.

“Come, let’s go to the entrance ceremony now.” the headmaster said as Yuki slowly nodded her head, following along with him.


	3. It seems the little butterfly has fangs...how interesting

Chapter II: It seems the little butterfly has fangs...how interesting

“Now, is that the last of the dorm sorting?” Riddle asked as he looked toward some of his fellow dorm leaders. They all nodded in agreement before turning their attention to the group of new students. Riddle nodded as well before doing the same. “Listen up, new students.” he continued. “Within Heartslabyul, I am the law. Disobey them and it will be off with your heads.”

Leona let out a long yawn, putting his hands on his hips, before speaking. “This boring ceremony is finally over. Let’s go back to the dorms. Savanaclaw, follow me.”

He turned to leave but before he could even take a step toward the door, Azul put his hand out in front of him. Leona just huffed in slight annoyance to this, going back to his spot and crossing his arms as the dorm leader of Octavinelle spoke out to the new students.

“To all of the new students, I would like to congratulate you on your enrollment here into this fine academy!” he said with a smile. “I hope each and every single one of you is able to live a fulfilling school life here. As the dormitory leader of Octavinelle, I will support you to the best of my ability.”

“By the way,” Vil said as he looked around the room a little, “where did the headmaster go? He slipped out right in the middle of the ceremony.”

“He abandoned his duties…” Idia said through a tablet.

“Did he get a stomache or something?” Kalim suggested.

Just as he said that, the doors to the mirror chamber flew opened as Headmaster Crowley walked in.

“Absolutely not!” he exclaimed, still carrying Grim with one arm as he made his way to the front of the assembly.

“Ah, he’s here…” Riddle said, trailing off a little as the room became quiet once seeing another person jogging in after the headmaster.

“ _ Damn, he can be fast when he actually wants to be! _ ” Yuki thought as she made her way to the front as well, not minding the stares that she was getting either. She was used to them by now anyway.

“Honestly.” Headmaster Crowley started as Yuki stood behind him, catching her breath, “We were short by one student, so I left to go find them.” He let out a sigh before turning his attention to Yuki. “Now, you are the only one left who has yet to be sorted into a dormitory, young man. I will watch over your little tanuki for you, so hurry up and step in front of the Mirror of Darkness.”

Yuki couldn’t help but blink a bit to the headmaster’s words as Grim tried once again to speak, but to no avail thanks to the headmaster’s hand. She first looked up at him before looking toward the reflectionless mirror.

“How...is a mirror supposed to sort me into a dorm, exactly?” she asked as she looked over to the headmaster once more.

“It is quite simple.” Headmaster Crowley said. “You simply step up to the Mirror of Darkness and state your name once it tells you to.”

“Right…” Yuki said, nodding her head slowly while still not quite getting how a mirror could do such a thing.

“Now that you know, please hurry and do so. You’re keeping everyone waiting, young man.” Headmaster Crowley said, starting to sound a bit annoyed with Yuki’s hesitation.

“...woman,” Leona said quietly.

“Hm? Did you say something, Kingscholar-kun?” Headmaster Crowley asked, looking toward said dorm leader as he didn’t quite hear what he had said.

Leona stayed quiet for a moment before letting out a sigh, shaking his head. “I said “woman”. That new student is a woman, headmaster.”

“Ah, I see.” Headmaster Crowley said with a smile, “My apologies, young la- Eh?! Y-y-young lady?!”

“You really didn’t know?” Yuki asked, raising an eyebrow at him. “I mean, I know I can be a tomboy most of the time but it’s pretty hard to miss that I am a girl.”

“She is right, headmaster.” Vil said as he crossed his arms. “And I think it’s safe to assume that everyone in this room could tell that right away as well.”

A few of the other students nodded their heads while some voiced their agreements to Vil’s statement. Yuki just let out a sigh as she crossed her arms, watching the headmaster start to look a little sheepish in front of his students and a little worried as well.

“Is there some sort of problem with me being here, sir?” she asked.

“Ah, uh, well…” the headmaster started, shifting a little under her gaze before clearing his throat. “You see, since the establishment of this school, Night Raven College has always been an all boys’ school. Every student that has been chosen by the Mirror of Darkness has always been male.”

“Uh-huh,” Yuki said, narrowing her eyes a little. “So, you’re saying that this “great and powerful” mirror made a mistake somehow?”

“No, not exactly at any rate.” Headmaster Crowley said, still a little unsure of himself. “Perhaps your magical abilities were to the mirror’s liking? We won’t know for certain till you have been sorted into a dorm, young lady.”

“So, are you really going to allow her to attend here, headmaster?” Leona asked. “I don’t think that’s such a good idea.”

“I agree with Leona-san, headmaster.” Azul chimed in. “This place isn’t exactly fit to accommodate a female student. Even more so when you consider how some of the dorms act. No offense, Leona-san.”

“None taken, but I think the young lady here could handle herself quite nicely within Savanaclaw though. Judging by the looks of her.” Leona said.

“Like I would allow such a thing to happen!” Vil interjected. “I will not stand idly by while a flower such as her were to be put into a dorm like yours! Granted, I would like to see her face first to properly judge her beauty. But still.”

“I think we’re missing the point here, everyone.” Riddle said as he crossed his arms, “Headmaster, are you really going to allow a female into the school? It goes against all of the rules!”

“Not all of them, Rosehearts-kun.” the headmaster said. “But, it would go against some of them at least.”

Yuki just let out a sigh as a few more of the dorm leaders voiced their concerns over whether she should be allowed to attend the school or not, despite being called upon by the Mirror of Darkness. In all honesty, she just wanted some answers to all of her questions. But it didn’t seem like she would be getting them at this rate. So, after letting out one more sigh, she took in a deep breath and marched herself up to the so called “great” Mirror of Darkness.

“Look!” she exclaimed, “We’re getting no where with this! Let’s just let the mirror speak for itself on whether I should be here or not? Okay?!”

The room fell silent as she looked at all of the dorm leaders and the headmaster. Once seeing that none of them was going to object to her plan, she turned her attention fully to the mirror, jumping a little when seeing that it had a face. One that oddly reminded her of a movie that she used to watch plenty of times while growing up.

“Reveal thy name.” it said.

Yuki took in another deep breath to calm her nerves, regaining her composure some before speaking. “Yuki-Daicho Walker.”

“Yuki-Daicho Walker.” the mirror repeated as it looked deep in thought. “The shape of thy soul……...I do not know.”

Almost the entire room, save for Yuki, exploded into loud cries of shock and disbelief to the mirror’s words.

“What did you say?!” the headmaster exclaimed as he walked up beside Yuki, looking at the mirror in shocked horror.

“While magic does run freely through her veins, the knowledge of its exact shape and color I cannot claim.” the mirror said. “Therefore, thou art ineligible for any dormitory.”

And with that, the face disappeared from the mirror as the rest of the students began to talk amongst one another.

“This cannot be!” the headmaster said, looking down in disbelief. “Not only has an ebony carriage brought to us a female student, she cannot even be sorted into any of the dorms! Just how did this manage to happe-”

Just as the headmaster was busy being lost in his thoughts, Grim used this opportunity to finally break free of his grip and jumped out of his hands and whip both.

“Pwah! Well, if that’s going to be the case, why not hand that seat over to me!” Grim exclaimed as he landed on his feet.

“Ah! Now wait just a moment, you tanuki!” Headmaster Crowley said once snapping out of his thoughts, looking toward Grim.

“Sure, sure, that human has some magic in them but I’m so much more better at it than she is!” Grim said with a smug expression. “Let me into the school in her place instead! If you need proof, I’ll be happy to show you all right now!”

“Everyone, get down!” Riddle ordered.

Just as Grim raised his paws into the air, everyone in the room prepared themselves for the worst. He let out a shout and blue flames suddenly appeared and began to spread throughout the entire room. Yuki tried her best to stomp out a few that were near her before everyone heard Kalim scream.

“Hot, hot, hot! My butt caught fire!” he screamed as he began to run around in place, trying to put out the fire that was literally on his butt.

“Haven’t you ever heard of “stop, drop, and roll” before?!” Yuki yelled as she ran over to help him out. “Here, hold still!” She took off her robe and used it to help smother the flames that were on the poor Scarabia dorm leader’s butt.

“If this doesn’t stop soon, the school will be engulfed in a sea of flames!” the headmaster said. “Somebody catch that tanuki!”

Leona clicked his tongue as he closed his eyes. “How troublesome.”

“Oh? But isn’t hunting your specialty?” Vil said, looking over at Leona. “This should be a perfectly round and plump snack for you.”

“Why me? You can do it.” Leona retorted.

“Headmaster Crowley, please leave this to me.” Azul said as he turned to the headmaster. “It seems no one else wants to take on this task of capturing this poor and innocent creature. So, I shall take it upon myself.”

“That’s Azul for you. Always trying to earn a few extra points for himself.” Idia said with a hint of a laugh in his voice.

As all of this was going on, Yuki had finally managed to put out the flames that were on Kalim’s butt. He let out a sigh of relief as he carefully sat down on the ground.

“Thank you so much, miss.” he said.

“Yuki, and don’t mention it.” Yuki said as she shook her robe out a bit before putting it back on. “Besides, you shouldn’t be sitting down when there’s still plenty of fires going on.”

Kalim quickly jumped to his feet when she pointed that out to him, looking to make sure his butt didn’t catch fire again. To his luck and fortune, it wasn’t.

When seeing that no one was paying much attention to him, the headmaster grew more infuriated.

“Everyone, will you all listen to me?!” he exclaimed, hands on his hips.

A sigh just escaped Leona’s lips as he looked over at the headmaster. “If it’s just catching some stupid tanuki, why can’t you do it yourself, headmaster?”

“How many times do I have to say that I’m not a tanuki?!” Grim exclaimed angrily. “I am the great Grim and I will become one of the greatest magicians in the world!”

“It certainly has some spirit, doesn’t it?” Azul said before turning to Riddle. “Riddle-san, would you care to help me?”

“I can’t very well overlook rule-breakers.” Riddle said, “Let us hurry and finish this quickly.”

Azul nodded in agreement before running over to Grim with Riddle following shortly behind. Once seeing the two dorm leaders approaching him, Grim let out a short scream before running away from the two, giving chase. Yuki let out a very long sigh as she listened to the chaos that was going on around her. Students were trying to put out the flames with either magic or by other means. Meanwhile, the headmaster and the other faculty members were trying their hardest to help out as well while everyone was trying to stay out of Azul and Riddle’s way as they chased Grim around the room.

She pinched the bridge of her nose and let this continue on for a few more minutes before finally having enough. She clicked her tongue and snapped her head toward the little tanuki, taking in a very deep breath before letting out a scream.

“YA-ME-TE!”

Her voice echoed a bit throughout the chamber as Grim suddenly stopped dead in his tracks, freezing a bit in place as a small gasp of surprise escaped from him. But he wasn’t the only one that froze to the command. Many of the other students that had animal ears and tails froze as well. Even a few of the Octavinelle students did too, Azul included. The students that were not affected by this were the first to take notice as Yuki made her way over to Grim, who was trying desperately to regain the use of his body but was failing miserably. It was as if some sort of spell had taken complete and utter control over him, as well as some of the other students too. When upon seeing this, the headmaster became very intrigued as he watched Yuki stand in front of Grim, seeming to either pay no mind to the other students nor notice that they had also been caught under her control.

“Attention!” she ordered. Grim, as well as everyone else under her strange spell, immediately stood at attention against their will.

“W-wh-what are...you-” Grim tried to say but was cut off by Yuki.

“Urusee!” she ordered again and he quickly shut his mouth, along with the others. Once that was done, she took in a deep breath to calm herself down before speaking. “Now, be a good boy and apologize to the headmaster for all of the trouble you have caused.”

Grim didn’t move an inch as he continued to struggle against whatever magic that had a hold on him and at least half of the student body. Yuki watched him, narrowing her eyes when seeing that he wasn’t going to do what she had asked and crossed her arms over her chest.

“Apologize.” she said. This time, Grim’s body moved to at least turn around to face the headmaster but Grim fought even harder as the “spell” tried to make him bow too. Yuki’s eyes narrowed even further before she took in another deep breath, this time to yell. “Apologize! Now!”

“I’m sorry for all of the trouble I have caused, headmaster!” Grim and the other students under the “spell” said as they all bowed to the headmaster.

This made Yuki, as well as most of the others that weren’t affected, jump in both surprise and shock. The headmaster, on the other hand, watched with a small look of amusement on his face as Yuki looked around in confusion and worry at what she had done. She knew that she had a strange talent for making animals obey her without much problem. Heck, she even knew that she could make wild animals like tigers and bears obey her from working in the circus with her family when she was younger. But...she never would have imagined that it would have such an effect like this. She could see that some of the affected students had animal ears and tails of some sort.

“Walker-kun,” the headmaster said, grabbing her attention. “If you would be so kind, please release the students and the tanuki from your magic. Rosehearts-kun, be ready to catch the tanuki when she does.”

“Huh? Oh! Yes, of course, headmaster.” Riddle said as he snapped his attention back to the task at hand, readying his magic pen.

“Anou…” Yuki said with a bit of a whimper in her voice as she lightly scratched her cheek. “Not sure how this happened anyway but all right.” She let out a small sigh before waving her hand. “Anshin shite.”

The moment the words left her mouth, everyone that was affected by her so called “magic” let out a collective sigh of relief as they regained the usage of their bodies. Some had fallen to the ground from how low they had bowed while others had managed to catch themselves in time. Grim was among the ones that had fallen and was about to get back up when…

“Off with your head!” Riddle said, pointing his pen at Grim.

Grim let out a surprised shout as a heart shaped collar magically appeared around his neck.

“W-what is this?!” he exclaimed, looking down at the collar.

“Rule #23 of the Queen of Hearts: “You must not bring cats into areas of festivities.”. As you are a cat, trespassing here is a serious rule violation. We will have you leave immediately.” Riddle said, putting his pen away.

“I’m not a cat either!” Grim exclaimed angrily, turning around and glaring up at Riddle. “I’ll just burn this collar off right here and-” he said as he raised his arms into the air again but stopped once seeing that nothing was happening. “H-huh? My fire isn’t working?!”

Riddle chuckled a little as he looked down at Grim with a smirk. “Until I remove that collar, you won’t be able to use your magic. Now you’re just like an ordinary cat.”

“Wh-what?! I am not some “pet”!” Grim argued.

“You sure that’s what’s bugging you the most, tanuki?” Yuki asked, raising an eyebrow at Grim, crossing her arms.

“I am not a tanuki either!” Grim said. “How many times do I have to say  _ that _ ?!”

“Well, regardless of what you are, you can be rest assured that I’d never keep a pet like you.” Riddle said, moving to get in between Yuki and Grim. “Besides, I’ll take the collar off once you’ve been removed from the school’s grounds.”

“My, my~! Such wonderful displays as ever. As to be expected from Riddle-san, of course!” Azul said as he finished dusting himself off before joining the small circle around Grim. “Any and all magic gets sealed away thanks to his unique magic.” he continued, first looking at Riddle before moving his gaze over to Yuki. “And it seems that any and all beasts obey this young lady’s command with just a simple word. How intriguing.”

“It’s really not all that special.” Yuki said, eyeing Azul warily. “I’ve always been able to do that, even back home. The only difference between here and there is that it only worked on animals, never on humans. I never would have thought it would work on people with actual animal ears and tails before…”

“And that makes it all the more intriguing, my dear.” Azul said happily, smiling at Yuki before looking at both her and Riddle. “Oh, how I want them...Err, well, I mean I don’t want them used against me...again.”

“Again?” Yuki said, looking between Riddle and Azul with a raised eyebrow as the headmaster finally made his way over to them.

“Well, now that it won’t be causing anymore problems.” he said before turning toward Yuki fully. “Please do something about it that won’t affect the other students too! It is your familiar, is it not?!”

“Like I’ve been trying to tell you, he isn’t my familiar! I don’t have one anyway!” Yuki yelled with a growl as she glared up at the headmaster. “Not unless you can call Innocence a familiar...but that would be a stretch.” She muttered under her breath the last part as Headmaster Crowley continued.

“Well, train it pro...O-oh? It’s not yours?” he said.

“How are you a headmaster if you don’t give your “students” a moment to speak for themselves?” Yuki asked, putting her hands on her hips.

A few of the students nearby snickered to Yuki’s comment before shutting up as the headmaster cleared his throat.

“Now then, let’s get it out of the school now. I’m not even going to turn you into stew. For I am very kind!” Headmaster Crowley said as he turned his attention to Grim. “Who would like to do the honors?”

Grim let out a shriek as a faculty member came over, picked him up and made their way toward the door with him.

“Let me go!” he said as he tried to struggle out of the person’s grasp. “I’m...definitely, definitely…! Going to become the greatest magician…!”

And with that, the door to the Mirror Chamber closed behind Grim and the faculty member, letting the room grow silent at last.

“ _ Why is he so desperate to become a magician anyway? _ ” Yuki thought, letting out a sigh for the umpteenth time and rubbing her temple. “ _ If he was so serious about it, you’d think he would have acted a bit differently. Idiot. _ ”

“We may have had a bit of trouble there just now, but the entrance ceremony will now come to a close.” the headmaster said, bringing everyone’s attention back to him. “Dormitory leaders, please escort the new students back to your respected dormitories.” He looked around the room at all of the dorm leaders…before doing a quick double take as he finally noticed something else. “Hm? Now that I think about it, I don’t see Diasomnia’s dorm leader, Draconia-kun, here.”

“Isn’t it normal for that guy to not be around?” Leona said.

“What?! So did nobody tell him about the ceremony?” Kalim asked as he looked at the other dorm leaders and the headmaster.

“You could have easily done it yourself if it bothers you so.” Vil said, looking at Kalim.

“Hmm, but...I don’t really know him all that well.” Kalim said.

Yuki looked at all of the dorm leaders and the headmaster with a dumbfounded look as the other students began to whisper to one another about the missing dorm leader. She could feel her eye twitching a bit at how...incompetent they were with simply forgetting to invite one person, let alone one that held a position such as “dormitory leader”.

“Are you freaking kidding me right now?” Yuki said, holding up a finger at the headmaster as she noticed he was going to get onto her for her use of language out of the corner of her eye. “You hold important events like this...where every dorm leader should be in attendance for...and you “simply” forget to invite one of them?! There’s a thing called double checking in advance! Triple checking even! Did those thoughts ever occur to any of you?!”

The room fell silent to Yuki’s words. A few of the dorm leaders looked away from her while the others shifted uncomfortably in their spots, not wanting to either admit their guilt or swallow their pride. It wasn’t until everyone heard laughter that the silence was broken.

“I have never quite seen someone get on to them for that. Let alone, get so upset for someone that they have never met before.” Lilia said as he walked over to the group, going over to Yuki’s side. “Then again, I did expect that this was the case.” he continued with a small sigh. “I came all this way to see if he would come but it appears that he hasn’t. His invitation “never arrived” again, it seems.”

“My deepest apologies.” Azul said, keeping his attention solely on Lilia as Yuki glared daggers at all of them. “I promise, we didn’t mean to leave him out.”

“His aura just makes it hard for anyone to approach him.” Riddle said in his defense.

“That’s just an excuse.” Yuki said, clicking her tongue. She opened her mouth to say something else but stopped herself when Lilia put his hand in front of her face.

“Well, it’s fine, regardless.” he said. “The members of Diasomnia can simply follow me...I just hope he isn’t sulking about this…” He muttered as the headmaster nodded to his suggestion. As the dorms started to leave one by one, Lilia turned and looked up at Yuki, giving her a soft smile. “Thank you for your concern over him, though. I’ll be sure to let him know that at least one person was upset over this common occurrence.”

“Don’t mention it-this is a common occurrence?!” Yuki said, wide eyed. “Seriously?! Ugh...well...look, it’s no big deal. I just get like that when I hear people are being ignored or mistreated, is all. Nothing special.”

“Trust me, dear. This will mean a lot to him.” Lilia said with a chuckle. “You have a kind and strong heart. I just hope you don’t get intimidated when you actually meet Malleus like the others do.”

“That would be a very cold day in hell if I got intimidated by someone.” Yuki said with a straight face. “An undertaker friend of my dad’s babysat me a few times when I was a kid. Even got to go to his workshop a few times too. So it’d be really hard to scare me.”

“My, my, you really are an interesting human.” Lilia said, looking at Yuki with huge eyes of amazement and intrigue. “I hope you can stick around for a while. I would like to get to know you more myself. Well, until then.”

And with that, he gave her a simple wave before heading towards the door, signaling for the new Diasomnia students to follow after him. Yuki waved back, having given him a small smile before dropping it into a frown as she watched the remaining students leave one dorm at a time.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *lays on the ground, groaning*Leona was the hardest to write for me~! XP Again, apologies for the ooc  
> Yamete - stop it  
> Urusee - shut up, more or less  
> Anshin shite - at ease, more or less  
> Btw, points to whoever gets my very, very, very small reference in the chapter.


	4. Ah, little butterfly. You can't go home quite yet, I'm afraid.

Chapter III: Ah, little butterfly. You can’t go home quite yet, I’m afraid.

As the door to the Mirror Chamber finally closed behind the very last student, Yuki turned her gaze away from it and over toward the headmaster.

“So, what’s the plan for me, headmaster?” she asked him, crossing her arms. “You never did say whether you were going to allow me to enter this academy or not. Though I seriously doubt that you are…”

“And what makes you say that, my dear?” the headmaster asked as he turned to face her. “It is true that this is an all boys school, but, if I recall correctly, the Mirror of Darkness did say that you had some magic coursing through your veins. And I do believe I did tell you that it only chooses students who have excellent qualifications to become a proper magician. Furthermore, you have proven to not only me but to the other faculty members and the students that you do possess incredible power with that little stunt of yours earlier.”

“But that’s the thing, I wouldn’t call that “magic” per se.” Yuki said, scratching her cheek lightly before looking to the side. “Like what I told that guy with the glasses earlier, I’ve always had that ability to get animals to do pretty much anything I wanted so long as they were capable of doing it. Even wild ones like tigers and bears back when I worked in the circus with my family. Elephants too. But, just like I told him, I never imagined that it could have that much of an effect on someone with animal ears and a tail before.”

“I see,” the headmaster said, nodding his head slowly as he listened to her.

“I mean, I do know a few people who are able to use magic to a certain degree. Hell, a few of those people are in my actual family...somewhat regrettably. But they have never said a word about my ability being “magical” to me at all! Even my old babysitter never said anything and he was the first to see that ability in action!” Yuki said. “For all I know, it could have mistaken my Innocence for magic! Cause I ain’t heard a word about dad being able to use magic like how you and your mirror are implying! He only did simple tricks like making a coin appear from behind your ear and “is this your card?” trick! And I definitely never heard Neah or Uncle Al say anything about him having more magic than that! Never heard anything from that drunk bastard about it either!” Yuki huffed, putting her hands on her hips. She took in a few deep breaths before a thought crossed her mind. “Though...I do know pretty much nothing about my birth mom...but I seriously doubt that she had any magic to speak of. Let alone, pass any of it down to me.”

The headmaster merely let out a hum as he walked over to Yuki and gently put a hand on her shoulder. Yuki let out a sigh before slowly looking up at him as she wrapped her arms around herself.

“Look...can I just go home already?” she asked before looking down a little. “It’s nice that I was supposedly chosen to attend this school but...I really would just like to go home. I have my little brother to look after. And we...we just got…” She let out a sigh before finishing her sentence. “We just got our bearings again.”

“I understand completely, my dear.” Headmaster Crowley said in a gentle tone. “You don’t have to worry about a thing. The Mirror of Darkness can send you straight back home. All you have to do is step back into the Gate and picture your home clearly in your mind’s eye.”

Yuki slowly nodded her head in understanding before walking with him to a coffin. He opened the lid for her and helped her inside before closing it. Once the lid was securely shut, Yuki took in a deep breath and slowly let it out. She closed her eyes and tired her best to picture her home in her mind.

She thought of Allen’s smiling face when eating mitarashi dango. She thought of the grimace on Neah’s face when he tries to be patient with her, especially when she purposely writes his name with the “h” at the end. She thought of how Uncle Al always tries to keep Neah calm during those times, despite trying to suppress his laugh when it came to the writing of his name. She even thought of her long time friend, Chomesuke’s smiling face when she finally agrees to go shopping with her. But no matter how hard she tried, she couldn’t quite picture her home clearly. It was all a blur despite being able to see the faces of her friends and family clear as day.

“Now, Mirror of Darkness!” she heard the headmaster say from the other side of the lid. “Guide this child back to where they belong!”

Yuki held her breath and waited for something, anything to happen. But...nothing seemed to be happening on either end as indicated by the headmaster clearing his throat.

“One more time.” she heard him say under his breath before speaking a bit more louder than before. “Mirror of Darkness! Guide this-”

“Nowhere…” the mirror said at last, cutting the headmaster off.

“What?” the headmaster said.

“What?!” Yuki exclaimed as she pushed the lid open, making the headmaster jump back a bit. She looked toward the mirror in both shock and disbelief.

“The place this one belongs to is nowhere in this world…” the mirror said as Yuki’s eyes widened. “It does not exist.”

“How can this be? This is unbelievable!” the headmaster said, looking at the mirror in disbelief as well. “Ah...well...the unbelievable has been on a parade today.”

The mirror remained silent to the headmaster’s words as Yuki tried her best to remain calm. She put a hand on her sword and gripped it tightly.

“This is the first time anything like this has ever happened since I became headmaster, what should be…” the headmaster muttered to himself before looking toward Yuki. “Where exactly did you come from, Walker-san?”

Yuki had to take a moment to gather herself again before slowly telling the headmaster everything about her home. He listened to her carefully as she told him how she was living in the U.K. with two of her uncles and younger brother.

“Hmm...I have to admit that I’ve never heard of that place.” he said once Yuki finished. “I have a general grasp of where all of my students hail from but I’ve never even heard of that name before.” Yuki’s heart sank a bit to his words before perking as he continued on. “Let’s go do some research in the library then, shall we?”

She nodded her head vigorously before quickly following after him back to the library where some of this craziness really began.

Page after page. Book after book. Scroll of parchment after scroll of parchment even. And not a single, recognizable image of her home town, let alone her home _world_ , could Yuki find as she searched the library with the headmaster. She had to put the book she was reading down before putting her hands on the table in front of her. Her legs were shaking, her vision was spinning as the realization of her situation finally hit her like a ton of bricks.

“There really is nothing.” the headmaster said as he closed the book he was looking through. “Not only on the world map, but even in our history, the name of your home isn’t written anywhere.” He then turned to Yuki, giving her a stern look. “Are you really sure that’s where you came from? You’re not lying to me, are yo-Walker-san!”

The headmaster quickly rushed over to Yuki’s side, managing to catch her as she collapsed to the ground. Her arms and legs had lost all of their strength to the headmaster’s words about her home. She breathed in heavily as the knowledge that, not only was this not a dream, she was also in a completely different world than her own sunk in deeper. Tears began to form in the corner of her eyes before falling down her cheeks as the thought of never being able to see her younger brother again crossed her mind. She then began to wail loudly before burying her face in her hands, her body shaking uncontrollably. All the headmaster could do was pull her into a hug and gently stroke her back as she cried.

A few minutes passed before Yuki’s sobbing died down into small sniffles and whimpers. She slowly lifted her head from her hands as the headmaster pulled himself away a bit. He gave her a kind smile as he pulled out a handkerchief from his pocket and handed it to her.

“Here, dry your tears, my dear.” he said softly as she took the handkerchief from him.

Yuki slowly nodded her head as she used the handkerchief to wipe her remaining tears away before blowing her nose with it. The headmaster just continued to gently stroke her back, taking note of the odd, white scar over her right eye. It was barely noticeably before thanks to her naturally pale skin. But now that he was closer to her, her face being a bit red from both her sobbing and covering it with her hands, he could now see it clearly. There appeared to be a pentagram on her forehead with a line going straight down, through her eyebrow and eyelid, before hooking at her cheekbone and curving along her cheek, stopping a bit before reaching her chin. He could also see that there was another scar line that was running parallel to her lower eyelid.

“I rather not talk about it right now.” Yuki said, snapping the headmaster’s attention away from her scar.

“Ah, my apologies, young lady. I didn’t mean to stare.” Headmaster Crowley said.

Yuki shook her head before letting out a small sigh. “So, what are you going to do with me now since I can’t get back home?”

“Well, first, I’ll have to think on where you can stay for the time being.” the headmaster said. “We may not be able to take you home now but there could be another way or two with some research. But it could be a very long process. So I will need to provide you a temporary home till then. After all, I am so very kind.” Yuki rolled her eyes to the last part as the headmaster hummed in thought. “That’s right! There’s an unused building on campus still!”

“How “unused”?” Yuki asked.

“It was once used as a dormitory in the past.” he said. “So, with a little cleaning it should be livable again.”

“I see,” Yuki said before sighing. “Well...I have lived and slept in worse places before.”

“That’s the spirit! I shall allow you to stay there for the time being!” the headmaster said with a smile. “Meanwhile, I will look for a way to return you home. Aah~ how very kind I am! I’m a model for all educators, no?”

“ _You would be if you listened to your students a bit more…_ ” Yuki thought as she carefully got to her feet.

“Now, before we go, there is one thing I wish to bring with us. Please wait right here, Walker-san.” Headmaster Crowley said, helping Yuki get up and into a chair before walking further into the library.

Yuki watched him leave, tilting her head a bit before relaxing in her chair. It didn’t take long before the headmaster came back with a book tucked safely under his arm.

“Now then, we had better be on our way.” he said as he held out his hand to Yuki. “Let’s head to the dormitory. It may be a bit old but there is a certain charm to it. Shall we, Walker-san?”

“Sure,” Yuki said as she took his hand and got up. “And you can just call me “Walker-kun”, ya know?”

“I see,” the headmaster said. “I will keep that in mind then, Walker-kun.”

Yuki let out a small hum as she nodded before following the headmaster out of the library once more.


	5. Never stop, keep walking, my little butterfly

Chapter IV: Never stop, keep walking, my little butterfly

The two walked in silence as they made their way over to the Ramshackle dorm. Along the way, Yuki made it a point to at least memorize some of the landmarks in case she ever got lost when coming or going from her new home. She was expecting the campus to be big but even this far exceeded her expectations for it. She was just wondering how big this place really was when she accidentally walked right into the back of the headmaster.

“Are you all right, Walker-kun?” the headmaster asked as he turned to look at her, having stopped a few seconds before the collision.

“Yeah, I’ll be fine. Don’t worry.” Yuki said, waving her hand a bit while lightly rubbing her nose with the other as she took a step back from him. “Why’d you stopped anyway?” she asked as she looked up at him.

“Oh! That’s because we’re here, my dear.” the headmaster said with a smile, taking a step to the side. He gave her a small bow as he gestured for her to look forward.

Yuki blinked a little to this, watching him before turning her gaze toward where he was gesturing to. Sure enough, in front of the two was a somewhat unkempt yard with various bushes and trees, both dead and alive looking. The grass looked like it was dying too but she wasn’t for sure on that part. Surrounding the yard, as far as she could tell at least, was a wrought iron and stone fence that looked a little banged up in certain areas with some dead looking vines on it here and there too. She could even spy two little headstone shaped rocks near one side of the fence with a shovel leaning near the gate on the other. And speaking of the gate, just beyond it was a stone stairway leading all the way up to the front of the dorm.

The dorm itself, despite the condition the yard was in, looked pretty much intact, kind of like a haunted house. Most of the windows were boarded up shut and a few of the shingles and siding looked like they had either fallen out or were on the verge of it. All in all, it was one of the better looking abandoned places she had slept in, at least from the outside it was.

“Not bad, not bad at all.” she said, crossing her arms. “Reminds me a bit of my old babysitter...please tell me that I’m not going to find anything pink in there.”

“Hmm...I can’t rightly say that you won’t.” the headmaster said, lightly tapping his chin in thought. “But, if you so happen to find something pink in there, it will most likely be in a lighter shade than what you are imagining, my dear.”

“Oh thank God,” Yuki said with a sigh of relief. “I can live with that...thought I somehow managed to summon him by mentioning him a few times by now.” She mumbled the last part out loud to herself as the headmaster went up to the gate.

“Well then, please come inside.” he said as he opened the gate for her, giving her a warm smile.

Yuki gave him a small smile and a nod before making her way up the stone steps. The headmaster followed shortly after her before taking the lead again to open the door for her. She gave him another nod as thanks before stepping through. Clouds of dust were the first things that greeted her as she stepped across the threshold.

“Still not the worst place that I’ve lived in for a time, but probably one of the dustiest that I have!” Yuki said, coughing a bit from the dust before covering her mouth and nose with her sleeve.

She carefully stepped over a broken coat rack that was lying near the door as the headmaster walked in after her, closing the door behind him. He then lead her over to the lounge area of the dorm.

“Well, at least staying here will keep you out of the rain, my dear.” he said with a smile. “Please, make yourself at home here.”

“Thanks, I will.” Yuki said as she lowered her arm some to smile up at him.

“Now then, I will be going back to the library to do a bit more research so don’t go wandering around the school! Understand?” the headmaster said sternly. Yuki nodded her head, bringing a smile to his face again before he pulled out the book he had brought with him from under his arm. “In the meantime, I would like you to read and study this book till I return. I will even give you something to help you for I am so very kind.”

Yuki raised an eyebrow to this as she slowly nodded her head again, taking the book from him when he handed it to her. She looked it over as the headmaster flicked his wrist and made a magic pen appear in his hand before giving it to her as well. This made Yuki raise her eyebrow more as she looked the pen over carefully. It had a beautiful crystal on it, appearing white till the light hit it just right, showing off the iridescent sheen it actually had.

“Okay...first of all, thank you for the gifts…” Yuki said slowly, looking between the pen and the book. “Second, why are you giving me these? I thought I said I wasn’t really magical.”

“You did say that, my dear, but I would like to believe otherwise.” the headmaster said. “That is why I’m having you start off small with this book of spells that is perfect for beginners.” He gestured to the book before turning on his heel and started making his way to the door. “Well then, goodbye~.”

“Hey! Wait!” Yuki exclaimed as she looked up from the book and quickly went after him.

She tried to make a grab for him, hoping to at least grab the end of his coat, but he somehow managed to move just a little bit faster than her. Her fingertips barely ghosted the fabric of the coat before he was out door. Once seeing the door close behind him, she let out a long sigh and put her arms down beside her. She stared down at the floorboard for a moment before turning her attention to her new “home”, pulling the book and pen to her chest.

“Home, sweet home, huh?” she said with a half hearted chuckle and a smile.

But the smile didn’t last long as she slowly made her way back into the lounge. She stood in the doorway, taking a moment to look around the room before making her way over to the sofa. She used her hand to dust it off a bit before carefully sitting down on it, placing the book and pen beside her. She let out another sigh as she leaned back in her seat, letting her mind wander back to her family again. She wondered if anyone had told Allen yet about her sudden disappearance. Or even if anyone was trying to keep Chomesuke from tearing up the house, let alone the neighborhood, looking for her. She even wondered how her uncles were taking this, she did pretty much leave in the middle of the night without a single word to anyone.

Tears began to prick the corner of her eyes again as she kept thinking about her family and how worried they must be by now. A few rolled down her cheeks and she moved to wipe them with her sleeve before stopping when a memory came to her. It was one that always comforted her time and again, even back when her father was alive to say it to her and her brother: _Never stop, keep walking_.

“Never stop...keep walking.” she repeated to herself, sniffling a little. “Right, dad?” She sniffled a bit more before wiping the tears from her eyes. She took in a deep breath and slowly exhaled it before standing to her feet. “Alright,” she said, putting her hands on her hips, “that’s quite enough of feeling sorry for myself! First things first, let’s see if I can find a decent enough room to sleep in tonight. Then, I can get to cleaning this place up!”

She gave herself a small nod of approval before making her way to the staircase, humming lightly.

As the evening marched on and the sky began to darken even more, Grim had made his way back onto the school’s grounds. He was just passing by the Ramshackle dorm building when it began to rain quite heavily on him. A loud shriek of surprise escaped from him before he made a dash for the door of the old building. To his luck, the door was left slightly ajar, just big enough for him to slip through unnoticed. Once inside, he shook the water off of him and brushed out his fur before sitting down.

“It’s really coming down, huh?!” he said to himself, looking back outside through the still slightly opened door before pushing it closed.

As soon as it was safely closed, his ears perked up when he began to hear a soft humming sound come from the lounge area of the dorm. Curious, he quickly made his way over to the lounge, only to stop dead when seeing that it was none other than Yuki being the source of the humming. He quickly darted backwards and hid behind the door frame just as Yuki turned to look when she heard the scampering of feet behind her. She was busy sweeping the floor with a broom she had managed to find when Grim came in.

She stared at the doorway for a good minute or so before returning to her work, muttering to herself about how it must have been a rat or a mouse that made the noise, maybe even a cat or a tanuki. Grim did his damnedest not to scream about how he was not a tanuki when hearing that as he slowly moved to peek up at her. He was counting his lucky stars that she didn’t come over to investigate when he heard her start to hum again, this time in a different tune. He poked his head out more when seeing her start to swish her hips a bit to the melody before doing a small twirl with the broom and dipped it. She continued to dance with the broom as she opened her mouth and began to sing.

“ _Suwagu suna no umi nemuru sore no kajitsu. Yoru ni kieta shinkirou kinu no wadachi o yuku. Soko ni arawareta, shiroi ikoku no bijo. “Nigeru nara kocchi da yo.” Arufu raira wa raira~. Kimi ni deaeta yoru no koto wa, maru de mahou mitai koi ni ochita sore dake de mou boku wa, donna jumon sae kikanai._ ”

Grim slowly came out of his hiding spot and sat on the floor in the doorway, watching Yuki in awe as she swished her hips a bit more and did another twirl before raising her free arm into the air.

“ _Senya ni ichiya no yume o mitai to, kanojo wa hitori nigedashita. Jaa, shiranai sekai o mi ni ikou ka? “Boku o shinjite.”~_ ”

She did one more twirl, this time facing Grim when she stopped, with her eyes closed and stretched her hand out to him as she sung that last part. However, when she opened her eyes and saw him sitting there, listening and watching her, the words and melody died in her throat. The two sat there in silence for a good bit with Yuki staring wide eyed at him and Grim staring back, a bit confused on why she stopped singing. He tilted his head to the side a bit as an ear twitched before voicing his concern.

“Hey, why’d you stop? I was starting to really like that song.”

“What the hell are you doing here, tanuki?!” Yuki exclaimed as she raised the broom over her head and charged at him.

Grim gave out a shriek as he jumped to his feet and managed to dodge the broom as she slammed it down before running further into the lounge. Once he was at a safe distance from her, he turned to face her and glared.

“I am _not_ a tanuki!” he exclaimed. “That is the last time I’m going to say it!”

Yuki just let out a growl as she turned to face him, raising the broom and pointing it at him. “So...how and why did you come back to the school?! You know they are going to throw you out again once they find you.”

Grim let out a huff before smirking, putting his paws on his hips. “It was easy as pie getting back in for the great Grim! If they think getting thrown out is gonna make me give up on getting in, then they’ve got another thing coming!”

“ _You_ have another thing coming if you so much as breathe one flame in here, mister!” Yuki said, narrowing her eyes as she readied the broom for another strike. Grim flinched a bit to that and took a step back, raising his paws into the air in surrender. When seeing that, Yuki let out a sigh and lowered the broom down, making Grim relax a bit as she spoke in a softer tone. “So, why do you want to attend this school so badly in the first place? What’s the point of it?”

“What’s the point?!” Grim exclaimed. “This school is known for producing some of the greatest magicians in the world! And I’m a genius born to become a great magician himself! So it makes sense that I attend a school such as this one!”

“About as much sense as me suddenly being here, it does.” Yuki muttered under her breath, putting the broom down and leaned on it.

“I’ve been waiting for the Ebony Carriage to come and pick me up for a very long time.” Grim continued, not seeming to have heard Yuki’s muttering. “Even so...even so…”

“Even so, it never came for ya, huh?” Yuki said.

Grim nodded his head sadly before letting out another huff. “Hmph! The Mirror of Darkness just doesn’t have an eye for this kind of thing, you know?”

“Tell me about it,” Yuki said with a sigh, shaking her head a little.

“So, that’s why I came here on my own!” Grim said, crossing his arms. “Not letting me in would be a loss to the world! Those humans just don’t understand.”

“Oh no, what ever will they do~?” Yuki said sarcastically, rolling her eyes as she put a hand to her forehead for dramatic effect.

“Hey! Are you making fun of m-nyaa!” Grim started, glaring at Yuki before jumping when feeling a drop of water land on him. “So cold!! The roof is leaking!”

“Great...one more thing to add to this crazy day...wonder where it’s coming from anyway?” Yuki muttered to herself, looking up at the ceiling as another drop landed on Grim.

“Fgyaa!” he exclaimed before darting over to Yuki and hid behind her. “It just keeps coming! My adorable flaming ears are gonna go out at this rate!”

“Then quit your whining and help me find a bucket.” Yuki said, looking down at Grim with a stern look.

Grim just pouted up at her and huffed, snuggling closer to her to hide from the leaks. She let out a sigh and rubbed her temple before perking when remembering the book the headmaster gave to her. She set the broom down and quickly walked over to the sofa where she left it earlier, along with the pen. To her relief, neither had been touched by the leaks yet.

“Maybe this will have something useful for the leaks,” Yuki muttered to herself as she picked up both the pen and the book.

“Oh, good idea!” Grim said as he ran over to her, jumping up on the sofa and looked up at her as she flipped through the book. “We can use magic to fix the leaks real quick!”

“Would be nice...if I knew how to use magic in the first place!” Yuki said as she made sure not to get the book wet. “Despite whatever that talking mirror said, I don’t know much about magic. Plus, I think fixing the leaks is a little out of my league right now anyway.”

“So…” Grim said before snorting a little. “You’re pretty much useless~?”

“If you think you can do the job, then do it!” Yuki said, closing the book and putting it under her arm before looking down at Grim. “Otherwise, help me look for a bucket!”

“Eh~? No way!” Grim said, smirking a bit. “I’m just a regular monster taking shelter from the rain! Besides, you don’t even have any canned tuna and there’s no way I’m working for free!”

“You mean besides _allowing_ you to take shelter here? I could have thrown you out by now!” Yuki growled as she glared at him.

Grim shrunk a bit away from her before shaking his head. “Nuh-uh, no food, no helping.”

A long sigh escaped Yuki’s lips as she pinched the bridge of her nose. “Right...if you want something done right, do it yourself.” She rolled her eyes as she spoke before making her way toward the staircase again. “Time for a bucket hunt.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yeah...I kept making too many references when writing the chapter before editing it...so he did a bit of a beetlejuice thing to me and yeah...will appear later.... much later....  
> And the song she is partly singing is Magic Ring Night from the Royal Scandal song series and no, I'm still not okay about seeing what happens in that.


	6. Who you gonna call, little butterfly?

Chapter V: Who you gonna call, little butterfly?

Just as Yuki set a foot down on the second floor landing, she heard the dorm, or at least she assumed it was the dorm, give out a loud groan followed by a little pop. She let out another sigh before slowly making her way down the hall. She was only a few steps away from the stairs when she suddenly stopped in her tracks. The air had grown colder and she had a feeling that it wasn’t from the breeze coming in through the cracks of the windows. Quickly, she moved to hold the spellbook and magic pen in one hand before drawing out her sword with the other. She carefully scanned the area as she tightened her grip on her sword and held it at the ready.

“Where are you…” she muttered under her breath.

She was just about to look behind her when three ghosts slowly appeared one by one in front of her. Her eyes widened for a moment to this before narrowing into a glare as she growled, barring her teeth a little.

“You have got to be freaking kidding me right now!!” she exclaimed, stomping her foot on the floor as she sheathed her sword.

She let out a groan of annoyance as she pinched the bridge of her nose while one of the ghosts began to chuckle. She could faintly hear Grim make his way up the stairs behind her as she looked toward the ghosts again.

“We haven’t had a guest in such a long time~.” one of the ghosts said.

“I’m just itching for some action,” the second ghost said before laughing a little.

“I’m really wishing this is all a dream now,” Yuki muttered to herself, sighing a little as she rubbed her temple. That was when Grim finally made it to the top of the stairs.

“What’s going on up he-Gyaaa!!” he started, turning toward Yuki, before screaming when noticing the ghosts as well. “G-g-g-gh-ghosts!!”

“The people who were living here got scared of us and left.” the third ghost said.

“We’ve been looking for some more ghost pals. How about you guys join us?” the second ghost said.

“How about “no”?” Yuki said, glaring at the ghosts. “I  _ really _ don’t feel like dying so far away from my family. Or dying in general. What about you, Grim?” She looked down at Grim, who was whimpering in fright.

Grim snapped out of his fear when Yuki addressed him and shook his head. “No way! I still have yet to get into this school!” he said as he put a determined face on, glaring at the ghosts as well. “Plus, the Great Grim isn’t afraid of some ghosts!”

“ _ Uh-huh, sure he isn’t, _ ” Yuki thought, rolling her eyes a little.

She raised an eyebrow when seeing Grim close his eyes and take in a deep breath. She was about to open her mouth to ask what he was doing before shutting it as her eyes grew wide when seeing him breathe out fire from his mouth. However, despite his best efforts, the flames hit nothing but air as the ghosts had disappeared way before he started shooting.

“Where were you even aiming for?” the first ghost said as they reappeared in a different spot.

“Over here, over here!” the second ghost said with a laugh as they reappeared in another spot.

“Shoot! Stop disappearing like that!” Grim exclaimed, glaring at the ghosts again before doing another fire breath.

Yuki watched this fail miserably again before speaking, “Do you want me to tell you where they’re going to be at? It looks like you’re getting no where with just closing your eyes every time you fire. You’re giving them a huge window of opportunity ‘cause of that, you know?”

“Shut up! Don’t try to give me orders again!” Grim said as he turned to glare at Yuki. “If you think  _ you _ can do a better job, then why don’t you do it! Afterall, fire should be a pretty basic spell for a baby like you! Stupid human!”

“Excuse you?” Yuki said, narrowing her eyes into a glare as her face contorted with anger. “Did you just call me a  _ baby _ ?! Ooh, ho, ho~! You are so asking for it!” She gritted her teeth and clicked her tongue before taking the book in her free hand. “Fine! We’ll see if I’m better at this than you despite being a complete novice!”

“ _ And despite there being a high chance of not having any magic to speak of in the first place… _ ” Yuki thought, sweating a little as she opened the book.

She quickly flipped through its pages till she found one talking about how to cast a fire ball. She skimmed through the page as the ghosts kept disappearing and reappearing in different spots of the hall. Grim tried his best to attack them still while she was studying but with little to no progress on that front. Once having a vague enough idea of what she needed to do, Yuki held out her magic pen and took aim at a ghost just as they were reappearing.

She took in a small, deep breath before shouting, “Fire shot!”

As soon as the words left her mouth, her crystal glowed a yellowish orange color before a ball of fire flew out of it, hitting the ghost dead on.

“Ouch! Hot, hot, hot!” they exclaimed as they patted down the area the fire hit them at.

Both Grim and Yuki stared wide eyed at the ghost, not quite comprehending, or even believing, that what they saw happened.

“That...was...a pretty good shot…” Grim said dumbfoundedly.

“Thanks...I guess…?” Yuki said slowly, lowering her arms down after she closed the book.

“Well,” Grim started, crossing his arms as a smirk slowly came to his mouth, “since you can do something as simple as that, I’ll just leave the rest to you.”

“Oh, no you don’t! Nuh-huh!” Yuki said as she snapped out of her shock and looked down at him. “If you want to stay here from the rain tonight, then you’ve got to help out with this too!” She smirked a bit herself as an idea came to her mind. “Or you get no canned tuna tonight.”

A small gasp came from Grim as he looked up at Yuki in shock.

“...B-b-but you don’t have any canned tuna anyway!” he said after a brief moment of silence between the two.

“True, but that doesn’t mean that I can’t go out and get some for you~.” Yuki said with an all too sweet smile on her face. “But that’s only if you’ll help me out~.”

Grim let out a groan to this as he thought it over, muttering to himself. “I-I-I’m a genius, you know. I could finish these guys off by myself or-” He was cut short when two of the ghosts reappeared beside him and laughed to his reaction. “B-bunch of cowards ganging up on us like this!” he exclaimed.

“Act now and I’ll double the canned tuna for tonight~.” Yuki said in a sing-song way, not seeming at all bothered by how the ghosts were reappearing near them and laughing.

Grim groaned a bit more as he thought it over again before letting out a huff and nodded. “Fine! I’ll help! But you gotta tell me where they are!”

Yuki smiled a bit more to this before she pointed to his left. “On your left.”

Grim quickly turned to his left and let out another fire breath. This time around it managed to hit a ghost just as they were reappearing in that spot.

“Hot, hot, hot!” they exclaimed.

“Whoa...I hit it!” Grim said, all wide eyed before he smirked and jumped into the air, raising a paw as well. “Alright! Let’s chase them all outta here, human! I’ll race ya!”

“The name’s Yuki and sure, why not?” Yuki said, holding her pen at the ready. “Just don’t get too cocky now! On your right this time!”

Grim turned and shot out another breath of fire, hitting another ghost as they reappeared on his right, just like she said. Yuki aimed for another ghost herself and fired, hitting them as well. This kept up for a good while, with Yuki shouting out directions for Grim to aim at while shooting fire balls of her own at the ghosts. Eventually, after being shot at by fire so many times, the ghosts let out a scream as they raised their hands up into the air in surrender, backing away from the two.

“We’re gonna be goners at this rate!” one of the ghosts said.

“Run away~!!” another ghost said before they quickly flew off one by one, disappearing from sight.

“H-huh? We...won?” Grim said, a little shocked by the ghosts’ retreat.

“Looks like it…” Yuki said, panting lightly as she lowered her arm. She turned and smiled down at Grim. “We did a pretty good job there!”

Grim slowly nodded his head as he relaxed, panting a little himself before quietly muttering, “Th-that was sca-” He cut himself off when seeing a smirk begin to grown on Yuki’s face as he looked up at her, quickly changing his tune. “Uh, no! I wasn’t scared at all! This is nothing for the Great Grim! How about that, ghosts!? You’ve given up?!”

Yuki just shook her head and leaned down, gently petting the top of Grim’s head.

“Hai, hai,” she said.

Grim’s eyes widen a little to the pets before closing them and nuzzles her hand. She couldn’t help but giggle a little to his reaction, reminding her of her own cat back home a little. As she pulled her hand away and stood up, she heard footsteps coming from the stairs. Grim also heard the footsteps and turned to look before jumping a bit when seeing the headmaster step onto the landing.

“Good evening, Walker-kun.” he said as he walked over to the two, smiling. “As promised, I have returned and have graciously brought you supper.” Yuki quickly perked up a bit to that as the headmaster looked down and noticed Grim finally. His smile turned into a frown as he glared at the small creature. “You’re the monster that ran amuck during the entrance ceremony! I thought we threw you out of the school! Why are you here?!”

Grim let out a huff as he crossed his arms and looked up at the headmaster, giving him a smug expression. “I helped exterminate your ghost problem! Be grateful!”

“Plus, can we discuss this during dinner? I did hear you brought me food, right?!” Yuki asked as she looked up at the headmaster with sparkling, pale red eyes to the mention of food.

“Hm? Ah, yes, I did bring you supper but...I would like to know more about this “ghost problem” you two, if I’m understanding it correctly, got rid of?” the headmaster said.

Something akin to a whine escaped from Yuki’s mouth as she tilted her head back a little before pouting, crossing her arms. She and Grim began to tell their tale on what happened while the headmaster was gone. He listened to them carefully, nodding every so often before looking like he just remembered something as they finished.

“Now that you two mention it,” he began, “there were some mischievous ghosts that settled down here and started going after the students, making them keep their distance from here till it was abandoned completely. I’d forgotten about that. However, hmm…” He put his hand to his chin as he pondered on something. “For the two of you to work together to drive out the ghosts…”

“Are we just gonna skip over the fact that you forgot a dorm of yours was haunted?” Yuki asked. “Which brings another question to mind, do you have a secretary or someone who can help you remember important stuff? Like ghosts being the reason why a dorm got abandoned in the first place?!”

“I’m with Yuki on that,” Grim said, crossing his arms. “Though, I really wouldn’t say we were “working together”. I just did it for two cans of tuna...speaking of which...it’s time to pay up!”

“Hai, hai, just as soon as he tells me where I can get some.” Yuki said as she leaned down and patted Grim on the head.

“Which will be only after you two show me how you exterminated the ghosts here.” the headmaster said, crossing his arms.

“Eh?” Yuki said, blinking a bit.

“But we already got rid of all of the ghosts here! And I’m not doing anymore work till I get my cans. Of. Tuna.” Grim said sternly, putting his paws on his hips before glaring at the two.

“I will be the ghosts.” the headmaster said.

Both Yuki and Grim raised an eyebrow at him before looking at each other with puzzled looks.

“How?” Yuki asked as she looked back at the headmaster. “Last I checked, there’s really only one way to become a ghost and I rather not give Neah a heart attack when I do go home about having actually killed someone.” She winced a little as a memory quickly flashed in her mind. “And I rather  _ avoid _ seeing that fat bastard’s face again if I can help it.”

“With a transformation potion, I can temporarily become one.” the headmaster said before smiling. “If you can beat me, I’ll give you an extra can of tuna and an extra helping of food, for I am so very kind~!”

“I am so hating my Innocence on being a parasitic type right now…” Yuki muttered under her breath before sighing, not seeming to notice that Grim heard her loud and clear.

He was about to open his mouth and ask what she meant by that when the headmaster grabbed their attention by speaking first.

“Now then,” he said as he pulled out a bottle from his coat and opened it. He gave the two another smile before putting the bottle to his lips and took a shot from it. Just as he closed the bottle and put it back in his coat, a bright light enveloped him for a short moment before disappearing to show that he, had in fact, turned into a ghost.

“Holy crap…” Yuki said with wide eyes.

“Eeh~, I really don’t wanna.” Grim said as he pouted. “It’s too bothersome and I have to work with this weirdo again…”

““Weirdo” has a name and why are you complaining for? You’re getting an extra can of tuna after this.” Yuki said with a pout of her own.

Grim grumbled under his breath for a bit before huffing. “Fine, fine! But this is the last time! And I better get my cans of tuna after this!”

“Hai, hai,” Yuki said as she readied her magic pen once more. “Let’s just get this over and done with. My stomach is starting to growl.”

Once the two finished the challenge issued by the headmaster, both took a moment to catch their breaths. Yuki had to put her hand on the wall to keep herself steady after getting dizzy when the headmaster started to move faster near the end of the challenge. Grim followed suit in a similar way by leaning against her leg before looking up at the headmaster, who had returned to his original form.

“How...how was that?!” he asked.

“Impressive.” the headmaster said, “To think that a human and a monster could work together like this.” He hummed a little in thought as he put a hand to his chin. “Well, actually, my educator’s intuition has been tingling ever since the uproar during the entrance ceremony. Who would have thought that you were an excellent beast tamer even without the use of your magic, Walker-kun! However…” he continued before muttering incoherently to himself.

Yuki just rolled her eyes to the “beast tamer” comment and sighed. “Could have sworn I made a vague mention of being an animal tamer back in the circus earlier. But, enough about that, for now…” She pushed herself off of the wall a bit, only to slam her fist against it as she glared up at the headmaster. “Can we please have our food now?! I’m freaking starving and you better keep your word about the extra helping!” she exclaimed, pointing a finger at the headmaster.

“Yeah, especially with my cans of tuna!” Grim exclaimed as he glared up at the headmaster too.

“Yes, yes, I shall keep my word, for I am so very kind after all.” the headmaster said with a smile.

Yuki just nodded her head, glaring at him for a second longer before bending down to scoop Grim up into her arms. He blinked a bit to this as he held onto her while the headmaster walked over to them. He gently put a hand on Yuki’s back and helped her make her way down the stairs.


	7. The little butterfly...seems to know the Reaper quite well

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ahem.....It's showtime~!

Chapter VI: The little butterfly...seems to know the Reaper quite well

“Hey, how much longer do you think he’s going to take with bringing us our food?” Grim asked as he was laying down on the couch, resting his head on Yuki’s lap as she sat beside him.

“Don’t know,” Yuki said with a sigh, reading the spellbook as she and Grim waited for the headmaster to return with their promised rewards and a change of clothes for her. “Hopefully not too much longer.”

Grim just let out a small groan to that as he turned onto his side and curled up into a ball. A soft chuckle escaped from Yuki’s lips as a small smile graced them. She closed the book and set it down on her lap before moving her hand to gently stroke Grim’s back. A small purr came from him to this and scooted himself a little closer to her, nuzzling her side a little. Another chuckle escaped her lips as her smile grew.

“You really do remind me of my cat back home,” she muttered, mainly to herself but it was still loud enough for Grim to hear.

“Hey, how many times do I have to tell ya that I’m not a pet of any kind?” he asked with a bit of a growl as he looked up at her.

“I wasn’t  _ calling _ you a pet,” Yuki said. “I was just  _ comparing _ you to my pet.”

“Isn’t that the same thing?” Grim asked, raising a brow.

Yuki just let out a little hum as she gently stroked the bridge of his nose before lightly tapping the tip of it. Grim watched as she did this before closing his eyes and shook his head as he pulled it away, blinking a few times. A soft chuckle came from Yuki when watching him do this as she leaned back in her seat. Grim gave her a pout before moving to sit on his hindlegs. He opened his mouth to speak but quickly shut it when hearing the front door being opened, along with a pair of footsteps.

“I have returned, Walker-kun, Grim-kun~!” the headmaster said in a singsong way as he called from the foyer. “And I have brought all that I promised.”

“Finally~! About bloody time too.” Yuki said as she got to her feet, placing the book on the couch before making her way to the foyer. “Time to eat, Grim.”

“Yahoo~! Canned tuna time~!” Grim exclaimed happily as he jumped to his feet as well.

Yuki couldn’t help but to chuckle at him again as she stopped and waited for the little creature to catch up. Grim used this opportunity to run up to her and climb his way to sit on her shoulder, smiling big at the prospect of finally getting some canned tuna. Yuki chuckled a bit more when seeing his smiling face before continuing on to the foyer.

“All right, headmaster,” she said as she rounded the corner, “let’s see what you got-”

She froze mid-step while the words died in her mouth as her gaze met with an all too familiar pair of chartreuse phosphorescent eyes.

“Ah, yes,” the headmaster said as he turned and gestured toward the man that stood by him; the owner of the eyes. “I should have mentioned that I had some help with carrying the items here. My apologies, Walker-Kun, Grim-kun.”

The man just let out a small laugh as he watched Yuki take a step closer to them, looking as if she was seeing a ghost from her past and not quite believing it. Grim, on the other hand, looked between Yuki and the man with a look of both confusion and concern for his new found “friend”.

“Ah, it’s so good to see you again, my little swallowtail.” the man said with a smile, taking a few steps toward her. “I was on my way out of the school’s shop when I happened to run into the headmaster there. Upon exchanging pleasantries, he told me all about you and what had happened at the entrance ceremony as well. Imagine my surprise when hearing that  _ you _ , of all people, was called upon by the Mirror of Darkness. And even more so when hearing how you helped clear out the ghosts that were living here. With your own magic, none the less.”

Yuki’s face started to turn from shock to annoyance as the man began to burst out laughing as he recalled the tale. She let out a huff as she crossed her arms and stomped her foot on the ground.

“Well, rest assured that I was just as “surprised” as you were on the magic part as well, Uncle.” she said. “And since you’ve been “paid” at my expense, mind telling me what the bloody hell  _ you’re _ doing here?!”

“Funa! Wait, Yuki, you know this crazy guy?” Grim asked as he looked at her first before looking over at the man out of the corner of his eye.

“Sadly, yes.” Yuki said with a sigh as the man began to calm down from his laughing fit. “This is my old babysitter. Everyone back home simply knows him as “Undertaker” as he was an undertaker back home. I tend to call him “Uncle” or “Uncle Undertaker” from time to time.”

“What?!” both Grim and the headmaster exclaimed as they looked between the two.

“It’s true,” Undertaker said, “I’ve known my little swallowtail butterfly ever since she was a wee babe. Taught her almost everything I know too.”

“Yup,” Yuki said with a nod before glaring at Undertaker, putting her hands on her hips. “Now, answer my damn question.”

Grim and the headmaster slowly looked over at Undertaker as he laughed a little to Yuki’s demand.

Both the headmaster and Grim watched in silence as Yuki happily devoured her food, paying them little to no mind as she stuffed her mouth with another pork bun. Undertaker, on the other hand, quietly sat next to her as he watched the duo with an amused look on his face.

“H-h-how are you eating so much?” Grim finally asked as Yuki finished the last pork bun before moving right along to a sweet bun.

“Parasitic type Innocence,” Yuki said with a bit of food in her mouth before going in for another bite.

“And what do you mean by that?!” Grim asked. “You’ve been saying something like that all day!”

“Think of it like this, little tanuki.” Undertaker said, ignoring the glare he received from Grim. “Innocence is something akin to familiars for you. Though they are a great deal picker about their owners than normal familiars, if truth be told. As such, there are very few that can properly wield them. Parasitic types, like the one Yuki wields, tend to physically attach themselves to their owners in one form or another. Because of this, they require a great deal of energy to maintain and thus, some parasitic type Innocence users eat a bit more than the average human to keep up with the demand. This, of course, makes users like my swallowtail quite rare for they also have short lifespans because of that. Does this satisfy your curiosity, little tanuki?”

“Don’t call me a tanuki again, old man!” Grim screamed as he glared even harder at Undertaker.

“Now, now,” Yuki said as Undertaker busted up laughing at Grim. She reached her free hand over and began to pet him on the head to calm him down some. “Just calm down and breath a little, okay?”

Grim just grumbled a bit under his breath as he crossed his paws over his chest, huffing a little still. Yuki just let out a small giggle to this as she continued to pet him before looking over at the headmaster as he cleared his throat to get their attention. He waited a few seconds for Undertaker to get his laughter under control before finally speaking.

“Now then,” he started, “since it appears that the meal is about finished, I believe it’s time to take the little monster back out of the school.”

Grim jumped a bit to this before looking heartbroken, scooting a little closer to Yuki subconsciously.

“Oh, come on!” Yuki said, “Can’t he stay here with me at least?”

“What?!” the headmaster exclaimed, “Let a monster live  _ here _ ?!”

“Yuki…” Grim said, a bit bewildered at her request.

“Well, yeah. It’s not going to kill you or anything if you let him.” Yuki said with a huff, finishing her last sweet bun before putting her hands on her hips. “Besides, he’s more experienced in magic than I am at the moment. Could always use the back up in case the ghosts or something even worse comes along.”

“What about Undertaker-san?” the headmaster asked, looking toward the man.

“Depending on the situation, he would probably be laughing his head off more than trying to help me, sir.” Yuki said with a deadpan look on her face. “And would you really deny a poor girl’s request like that?” She added in a teary voice, lowering her head and sniffled a little.

The headmaster stayed silent for a moment or two before letting out a sigh. “No, I cannot. I am very kind after all. So, I will allow it.”

“Funa?! Really?!” Grim exclaimed, looking up at the headmaster hopefully.

“However,” the headmaster started, looking at Grim sternly, “I simply cannot allow someone, let alone a monster, into the school who wasn’t chosen by the Mirror of Darkness.” He then turned to look at Yuki. “As for you, however, I will hold a meeting with the other faculty members tomorrow afternoon to discuss on letting you in. You were chosen by the Mirror, after all. And have proven it right in its selection of you. I will let you know the final verdict tomorrow evening afterwards.”

“Well, you very well know my answer to that.” Undertaker chimed in. “As well as my answer to her financial situation here.”

“Very well, I will make sure to let the other members know at the beginning of the meeting your stance on this.” the headmaster said, crossing his arms.

Undertaker chuckled to that as Yuki rolled her eyes a bit.

“Hai, hai,” she said. “Then maybe you could also discuss with them about enrolling Grim too?”

“What?!” both the headmaster and Grim exclaimed, looking at her with shock.

Undertaker just laughed at their reactions as Yuki continued speaking. “He may know magic but he’s far too reckless with it.” she said. “He needs to be properly trained and he’s very set on bettering himself despite what he is. Yeah, sure, he didn’t have the greatest first impression ever. But he still wants to come to this school and learn all he can and more. Plus, wouldn’t it be better to have a monster training to control their magic while staying here? Instead of it just staying here and being absolutely reckless with it?”

The headmaster hummed as he thought over Yuki’s proposal. “I suppose you do have a point, Walker-kun.” he said before sighing. “Very well, I will discuss the possibility of Grim-kun’s enrollment with the other faculty members as well.”

“R-r-really?” Grim asked, getting a little teary eyed at the possibility of his dream coming true.

“However,” the headmaster said, sternly. “I am not making any promises that it will go over very well. Understood?”

“That’s all I’m asking, sir.” Yuki said before smiling at him. “Thank you.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This took FOREVER to write and went through FOUR rewrites! But now I am satisfied with how it turned out and at last, Undertaker is here~! You can follow me on my tumblr since I'm a little more active there than my twitter: youjiakuma.


	8. The Reaper returns a precious treasure to the little butterfly

Chapter VII: The Reaper returns a precious treasure to the little butterfly

“Woohoo! I so can’t wait for tomorrow night, ya know?!” Grim exclaimed happily as he jumped around on the bed of Yuki’s “new” room.

Yuki let out a sigh as she shook her head at him, having a small smile on her face as she did, while carefully putting away the ceremonial clothes in a drawer. A little after dinner had concluded, the headmaster presented Yuki the change of clothes he had gotten for her before leaving with Undertaker in tow for the night. She was currently wearing a simple, plain T-shirt with a pair of pajama bottoms.

“Yes, yes, I know.” she said as she closed the drawer. “You’ve told me so for what about feels like a thousand times now.” she teased.

Grim stopped his jumping and turned his head toward her, pouting. Yuki giggled a little as she made her way over to the bed.

“I can’t help but be excited for this.” Grim grumbled as he sat down. “If it wasn’t for you sticking up for me, I would probably have been kicked out again.”

“You  _ would _ have been kicked out again, you mean.” Yuki said as she sat down on the bed with him. “Multiple times, I might add, if you coming back after the first attempt is anything to go by.”

“Hey!” Grim said, crossing his paws and glaring up at Yuki.

“Oh, come on,” Yuki said with a giggle, “even you have to admit that it was going to happen.”

Grim just huffed in response before moving to the corner of the bed. “Let’s just go to sleep already. I’m tired.”

“Hai, hai, even a  _ great _ magician needs his beauty rest.” Yuki said, giggling a bit more as she moved to lie down.

“Are you still making fun of me?” Grim asked as he looked over at her.

“Maybe, maybe not~,” Yuki said as she pulled the covers up and over her. “Either way, you do have a point about getting some shut eye. We have a pretty big day ahead of us tomorrow.”

“You are so weird, ya know?” Grim said as he made himself comfortable. “Well, anyway, good night, Yuki.”

“Good night, Grim.” Yuki said.

She smiled at him as he quickly dozed off before reaching over to the nightstand and turned the small lamp on it off. She then pulled the covers more over her before closing her eyes and falling asleep as well.

The very first thing that greeted Yuki in the morning was a slap to her face as she slowly regained consciousness. The second thing that greeted her was the all too familiar giggle of Undertaker as she slowly blinked her eyes open. Seeing a panicked looking Grim with the three ghosts from yesterday floating behind him was just the icing on the cake for this  _ glorious _ morning.

“Three seconds,” she growled out as she glared at the four currently in front of her. “Explain.”

“The ghosts came back!” Grim exclaimed, ignoring Yuki’s glare as he hopped to the side. “Come on, come on! Let’s get rid of them again!”

A groan escaped from Yuki’s throat as she leaned her head back before turning onto her side, grabbing the pillow and putting it over her head.

“You do it!” she said, “You have way more energy than I do right now!”

“What?! But...they’ll make fun of me again.” Grim said in a slightly defeated tone.

Another groan escaped from her throat as she heard Undertaker, wherever he was within the room, giggling again.

“Then ask uncle for help.” she said, turning herself more away from Grim and the ghosts.

““Uncle”? You mean that weird guy from the night before?” Grim asked.

“Yes, I do.” Yuki hissed out a little in annoyance.

“No way!” Grim exclaimed, “He just stood there the entire time as the ghosts were trying to wake us up! I even heard him laughing his head off when I woke up screaming! Surprised that  _ that _ didn’t wake you up!”

“That might be because I gave Yuki-kun some warm milk last night with a secret ingredient of mine to help her sleep well before we had left.” Undertaker said, amusement clear in his voice.

At his words, Yuki began to recall the scene clearly in her mind. It was a little after their chat with the headmaster, right before they left, that Undertaker had pulled out a thermos from a bag and began to unscrew the cap. She remembered him telling everyone in the room that it was just warm milk that he had prepared for her with an added ingredient that he knew worked well on her to help her get to sleep faster. He then poured it into an empty cup and handed it to her. Now that she thought about it more, it was an all too familiar scene from when she was younger.

“How much of that “secret ingredient” did you put into my milk this time?” she asked as she took the pillow off of her head and turned to look at him.

“Just a wee smidge as usual,” Undertaker said as he showed her with his fingers.

Yuki clicked her tongue in response before pulling the covers off of her and sitting up. “Could have sworn my immunity to that was getting stronger.”

“Perhaps for now it hasn’t as you haven’t had it in a long while,” Undertaker said as he walked over to her. “But, mayhap it will once you start taking it on a regular basis.”

“Maybe,” Yuki said with a pout, resting her chin on her hand before looking over at him. “By the way, what are you doing here so early in the morning? Don’t you have to prepare for your classes today?”

“I did most of that the day before, little swallowtail.” Undertaker said, petting her head. “And it’s very easy for me to squeeze you in as my assistant for the day. Better than lounging around here all day and having the ghosts prank you, hm?”

“Yeah, that’s tr-what do you mean by “assistant”?” Yuki said as she eyed Undertaker warily.

“Oh, you’ll see.” Undertaker said with a smile. “Ruin the surprise if I told you now, wouldn’t it?”

Yuki groaned and pouted a bit more at him as he laughed to her response.

“Ah~, don’t be like that, my little butterfly.” he continued after calming down from his laughter. “I did bring you a big breakfast, after all. And a nice welcoming gift, too.”

“You brought me a gift?” Yuki asked, raising an eyebrow at him.

“Of course,” Undertaker said. “Though it isn’t anything “fancy”, if that’s what you’re thinking of. No. This is actually just something of yours that you gave to me for safe keeping a long time ago, dear butterfly. I’ve kept it nice and safe for you, just like I promised when you first gave it to me. And that includes all of the additions you’ve sent to me for it as well.” He chuckled a little as he reached into a pocket and carefully pulled out a chain with lockets attached to it.

Yuki, at first, raised her eyebrow more to his words before something clicked in her mind, widening her eyes. And when he fully pulled out the chain of lockets, her eyes began to water as she carefully took it from him. Grim watched as he tilted his head to the side before jumping when hearing the ghosts awe to this; forgetting that they were still in the room with them.

“I even took the liberty of adding another one on for you as well, little butterfly.” Undertaker said softly, gently putting a hand on her head. “I even made one for Allen as well for when you go home.”

Yuki remained silent as she looked over the lockets carefully. Each bared the name of someone she had lost over the years. It wasn’t until she reached the latest addition, a locket bearing the name “Mana Walker”, that her eyes began to well up and overflow with tears. She gripped it firmly in her hand before pulling it close to her chest, bowing her head a little as she muttered a simple phrase to Undertaker: “Arigatou.”


	9. You seem to be quite knowledgable in handling a trump card, little butterfly

Chapter VIII: You seem to be quite knowledgeable in handling a trump card, little butterfly

“Make way! Make way! Future top student and his loyal minion walking through here!” Grim exclaimed as he sat on Yuki’s shoulders, looking at all of the students that passed them by while they made their way to Main Street.

“Could you, maybe,  _ not _ yell that out while being so close to my ear, Grim?” Yuki asked, putting a hand to her ear as she kept looking at the makeshift map Undertaker had left for them before making his own way to the school. “It’s kind of hard for me to concentrate on Uncle’s map otherwise.”

“Hmph,” Grim started with a pout, “I still don’t see why he couldn’t have waited to show us the way instead.” He then leaned over a little to get a better look at the map before huffing again as Yuki started climbing her way up a flight of stairs. “Let alone, gave us a map to follow. It seems pretty straight forward with written directions alone. Don’t see why he had to draw a map too.”

“You are greatly underestimating my ability to get lost.” Yuki muttered to herself, rolling her eyes before stopping when reaching the top of the stairs. “Okay,” she said, rereading the map again before turning to her right. “So, according to this, I need to turn to our right and it should be a straight shot from there.”

“Hmph, I told you it seemed pretty straight forward.” Grim said as he looked at Yuki with a pout.

Yuki returned it by giving him a small glare before switching her gaze toward the road ahead of them. Grim soon followed suit before his eyes widen in amazement to the statues that were lined up on either side of the street. Yuki’s eyes widen as well but for a different reason as the statues all looked  _ very _ familiar to her.

“Whoa~! Amazing! So this is Main Street, huh?!” Grim exclaimed as he looked around at the statues, pressing his paws into Yuki’s shoulder to make her move closer to them.

“G-guess so,” Yuki said a little shakily, folding the map up and putting it in her pocket before slowly making her way toward the statues. “That’s what Uncle’s map says, anyway.”

“I wouldn’t have known for sure otherwise.” Grim said, “I didn’t get a good look at it yesterday, but...what’s with these statues? There are seven of them...and they all look pretty scary.”

Yuki scoffed and rolled her eyes to that. “Please! The only ones that are “scary” looking are those guys only.” she said as she pointed to the statues of Hades and Maleficent. “The Witch of Thorns especially. Second to them would be those three for different reasons.” She then pointed to the statues of Jafar, Ursala, and Scar. “The last two can’t even count into the “scary” category at all.” She clicked her tongue and shook her head as she stopped in front of the Queen of Hearts statue.

“Hmm...you do have a point, Yuki.” Grim said, letting her words sink in a little as he looked at the statues carefully. “They really aren’t all that scary looking.” He then let out a chuckle and pointed to the Queen of Hearts statue. “Especially this auntie here! She looks really snobbish, ya know!”

Yuki let out a giggle to that and nodded her head in agreement. “Yeah, you could say that again.”

“You mean to tell me you two don’t  _ know _ the Queen of Hearts?” a voice said from behind them, causing the two to jump out of their skins.

Yuki quickly spun around on her heel and put a hand to her sword. Standing before her was an auburn hair boy with a heart shaped mark over his left eye. His smile was friendly looking enough, but his eyes held a different story that Yuki knew all too well.

“Queen of Hearts?” Grim asked as he first looked at the stranger before looking back at the statue. “Is she someone important?”

Yuki remained silent as she watched the boy move toward the statue. She turned back toward it as well to give Grim a better view of it as she took her hand off of her sword and crossed her arms.

“In the past, she was the queen who lived inside the Rose Labyrinth.” the boy started. “She was someone who valued rules and discipline above all else. Strict in all things from the march of the Card Soldiers to the color of the rose bushes. And even though it was a country full of insane people, they were all in complete obedience to her. Why, you may ask? It’s because disobedience to the law would have you instantly beheaded!”

“Th-that’s scary!” Grim said with a whimper, shrinking a little behind Yuki.

Yuki looked over at him before giving him a soft smile and petted him on the head to calm him down some. “Then it’s a good thing she is no longer around, huh?” she whispered to Grim who nodded in agreement.

“It’s cool! I like it.” the boy said with a small laugh to Grim’s reaction. “‘Cause, like, nobody will obey a queen who’s just nice all of the time, right?”

“Nor would anyone obey a ruler that is mean and strict like that all of the time.” Yuki retorted as she looked over at the boy. “It’s all fine and dandy to be strict  _ some _ of the time. But a good leader needs to know when to be lenient with their followers as well.”

The boy flinched a little to the sharp look she was giving him as Grim mulled over her words.

“I guess you’re right,” Grim said after a moment’s pause. “There needs to be a good balance between nice and mean when being a leader.”

“Exactly, Grim. Gold star for you!” Yuki said, looking at Grim with a warm smile. Grim perked up and let a huge grin spread across his face to her praise before she looked at the boy again. “So, who might you be?”

“I’m Ace,” the boy said with a smile as he put a hand on his hip, rubbing the back of his neck with the other. “A fresh-faced first year. Nice to meet ‘cha~!”

“I am the great Grim! A genius who’ll become the greatest magician ever!” Grim said as he puffed out his chest a little. “And this one here is-”

“Yuki-Daicho Walker. A possible “fresh-faced” first year. You can call me “Yuki”.” Yuki said as she cut off Grim before he could call her his minion again.

“Possible “fresh-faced” first year?” Ace repeated as he looked at Yuki with a bit of confusion.

“Don’t worry about it.” she said, waving her hand before gesturing to the other statues. “So, Mister Ace, since you  _ seem _ pretty knowledgeable about the Queen of Hearts, mind giving us a full course on the others?” she continued with a smirk.

“Yeah, yeah!” Grim exclaimed, perking up even more before pointing to the one of Scar. “Like, is that lion over there with the scar a famous person too?”

“Of course!” Ace said as he moved to get a better look at the statue, Yuki following after. “That is the King of Beasts who ruled over the savannah. However, he was not born to be king. He was a hard worker who took over the throne with an elaborate plan he concocted himself. After he became king, he even allowed the loathed hyenas to live in his kingdom without discrimination.”

Yuki scoffed a little to that while Grim, on the other hand, stared up at the statue in complete awe.

“Ooh~, a person who didn’t get swayed by his social status. That rocks!” Grim exclaimed before looking toward the statue of Ursala. “So, who’s the auntie with the octopus legs over there?” he asked as he pointed toward her.

“That’s the Witch of the Sea who lived in a cavern in the depths of the ocean.” Ace said. “Her raison d’etre was to help all unfortunate merfolk. As long as you could pay the price, she would help you find the solution to any of your worries; from desires to change oneself to love troubles even! If it was within her power, then there wasn’t anything that she couldn’t do. But, I have heard the cost was a bit expensive, though. But if it’s to grant any wish, then it’s only natural, right?”

“...Depends upon the wish you make...and the consequences that follow.” Yuki said solemnly as she closed her right eye for a moment.

Grim blinked a little to her words before looking at her with concern. Yuki noticed him staring at her when she opened her eye again and smiled at him; giving him another pet on the head before speaking again.

“Alright, Mister Ace,” she began, turning to face the other statues, “what can you tell us about the ones over here?”

“Ooh! Yeah, yeah! Like that uncle with the big hat?!” Grim asked as he pointed to the statue of Jafar.

“That’s the Sorcerer of the Sand.” Ace began as he turned around as well, “He was a cunning vizier who worked under a foolish sultan and saw through the fake prince that was actually a street rat trying to deceive the princess! After that, he got ahold of a magic lamp and rose to become the most powerful sorcerer of all! Furthermore, it’s said that, with that power,  _ he _ became sultan.”

“Ho-ho! So, it’s just as I thought.” Grim said with a small smirk. “It’s important for a magician to have a discerning eye as well.”

“It’s important for anyone to have a discerning eye, Grim.” Yuki corrected him, “Even a great magician like yourself can be easily tricked from time to time.” She slowly moved her gaze toward Ace as Grim nodded to her words before pointing to the statue of the Evil Queen.

“Yeah, yeah, sure. Hey~! That person sure is beautiful!” he exclaimed.

“This person’s said to be the world’s number one most beautiful queen!” Ace said. “Everyday, she checked the world’s most beautiful person ranking in her magic mirror. And, when it looked like she might fall from the number one spot, she never hesitated to do anything to get it back. I guess she had the guts to remain the most beautiful in the world, huh? So freaking amazing. They say she was even adept at making poisons, too.”

“S-she’s pretty, sure...but no thanks…” Grim said as he shrink a little behind Yuki.

“I’m just perfectly fine with only having one person “poisoning” me on a daily basis.” Yuki said, making quotation marks around “poisoning” with her fingers. “And that would be my Uncle.”

“What?” Grim asked as he looked at Yuki with a mixture of both confusion and deep concern for her wellbeing.

“Huh?” Ace said as he looked at her as well.

“Don’t worry about it.” Yuki said, waving her hand dismissively at them before pointing to the statue of Hades. “Just tell us about this joker now.”

Ace and Grim both continued to look at her a little warily before turning their attention to Hades as well.

Ace cleared his throat a little before beginning in a low and somewhat eerie tone. “The Lord of the Underworld. He ruled over a land crawling with evil spirits all by himself, so that already makes him a super powerful person.”

He smirked a little when seeing Grim’s fur stand straight up to his little introduction of the Lord of the Underworld. However, the smirk was short lived when he looked to see Yuki’s reaction, only to be met with a glare.

“The Underworld wasn’t  _ just _ a place for “evil spirits” to go to!” she snapped at him. “It also had your average Joe’s and even your “wonder boys”.”

“O-oh? And who’s the one telling the story here about the Great Seven, missy?!” Ace asked, putting his hands on his hips.

“A poor trump card that doesn’t seem to know a thing about the Underworld apparently.” Yuki retorted, crossing her arms.

“Trump card?! Why, you-” Ace exclaimed, glaring at Yuki before being cut off by Grim.

“Hey, hey! Enough with the arguing! Let’s finish this little tour up so we can get moving to that crazy guy’s class! I want to know about these last two guys before then!”

“Crazy guy’s class?” Ace asked, blinking a little.

“My uncle’s class. He’s a professor here...surprisingly.” Yuki said, taking in a deep breath before slowly letting it out. “We’re his assistants for the day.”

“Oh, I see!” Ace said with a nod, putting a hand to his chin before smirking. “So you’re in charge of bringing him a practice dummy for the seniors, right?”

“Excuse you?” Yuki said with a bit of a snarl.

“Eh?!” Grim exclaimed, looking at Ace with a bewildered look.

“Oh, come on! Isn’t it obvious? Why would the school allow a little tanuki like you to stick around if not for target practice?” Ace said with a laugh, pointing at Grim before pointing to Yuki. “And you being an errand girl for your uncle seems pretty appropriate. After all, if you don’t know who the Great Seven are, you might as well enroll into kindergarten instead of here!”

“This guy…” Grim muttered under his breath as Ace laughed even more. Yuki just gritted her teeth as she glared at Ace.

“Well, I better be off to class now.” Ace said, calming down from his laughing fit before turning on his heel and giving the two a slight wave. “Don’t want to be late on my first day, you know. Have fun today and try not to ware yourselves out too much~! It’s not everyday you get a perfect practice dummy to waltz right on in here!”

“That...jerk!” Grim growled as Ace walked away from them. “He’s just going to say that and leave?!” He opened his mouth to speak more but closed it when feeling Yuki pick him up from her shoulders and set him down at the feet of one of the statues. “Huh?”

He blinked a few times before watching Yuki quickly walk after Ace, taking note of how tightly she was clenching her first.

“Oi!” she exclaimed, clenching her fist more before raising it once she was close enough.

Ace paused and turned around to look at her, barely taking note of the fist as he opened his mouth, “What-”

_ Wham! _

Undertaker quietly stared out of the classroom window as the students were slowly making their way in. He glanced over to the clock to check the time before turning to look at the doorway. The students that were just making their way in flinched and hurried over into their seats, avoiding eye contact with him as they did. He watched them go before letting out a sigh and turned to look out the window again.

“She got lost again, didn’t she?” he muttered to himself.

“Hm? Oh, Professor Undertaker, good morning.” a student said as they entered the room.

Undertaker couldn’t help but smirk as the rest of the class fell silent to the mere presence of this student. A small chuckle escaped his lips before an idea came to mind, making him smirk more.

“Ah, and a good morning to you, Mr. Draconia.” he said as he turned to look at the student fully. “Before you sit down and make yourself comfortable, I have a small request to make of you.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> FINALLY~~!! Multiple rewrites and mind taking metal leaps off of cliffs at the end of last year are the reasons for the "lateness". Wee bit better now.


	10. The little butterfly meets the dragon fae of thorns...

Chapter IX: The little butterfly meets the dragon fae of thorns…

__ _ “I need you to go about the school and locate a little lost butterfly for me. She is supposed to be here by now but seems to have lost her way at some point. Start your search at Main Street and go from there. That is the most likeliest place where she began to lose her way. Oh, and before I forget, do be mindful when approaching her from behind. She tends to strike first and ask questions later when being in an unfamiliar place. Hehehe, good luck, Mr. Draconia~.” _

Professor Undertaker’s words echoed in Malleus’s mind for a time as he made his way down to Main Street. Just how important was this “lost butterfly” that Professor Undertaker would entrust him with the task of finding them? He had to admit, he was very curious and a little bit eager to meet the person his professor was so worried about. It was a well known fact that the professor was eccentric to a fault and barely anyone knew what was really going on in that mind of his. It was an even bigger well known fact that the professor had no one he truly cared for, that was living at least...until today.

Malleus hummed a little in thought as he allowed himself to imagine what sort of person this “little butterfly” could be. However, before he could go any further with that train of thought, his attention was quickly drawn toward a growing group of students near the statues of the Great Seven.

“Oh my, what’s gotten them so riled up this morning?” he muttered to himself, watching a few more students join the group before he stepped a bit closer himself.

“Yeah! Get him, sis! Show that Heartslabyul student what you’re made of!” he heard a student cry once he was close enough.

“Come on, come on! Is that the best you can do?!” a disgruntled Heartslabyul student said.

“I don’t care if she’s a girl, man up and beat her already!” another Heartslabyul student yelled before the crowd let out a synchronized “ooh” when he heard something hit the stone pathway hard.

Malleus slightly raised an eyebrow to this before daring to take another step closer to get a better look at what everyone was going on about. His eyes widen just a tiny smidge when seeing that it was nothing more than a fight between a first year student and a young woman...with the obvious victor being the young woman.

“Nyahahaha! Way to go, Yuki! Show that stupid trump card what you’re made of!” a small cat like creature exclaimed as it bounced up and down on one of the Great Seven’s pedestals.

“Quit calling me a “trump card”, you stupid tanuki-urk!” the first year student retorted, glaring at the cat like creature as he got to his feet before being cut off when the young woman ran up to him and punched him in the gut.

This earned another synchronized “ooh” from the crowd as the first year stumbled back a bit before some of the students erupted into cheers for the young woman. Malleus let out a small hum as he kept his eyes on her. He couldn’t quite make out her face as she had the hood up from the sweater she was wearing, but he did take note of the sword that was securely strapped to her right hip as well as a holster for her magic pen strapped to her left leg. He also took note of a similar looking chain of mourning lockets; worn in the same fashion as Professor Undertaker as well.

“Had enough yet?!” the young woman roared as she carefully watched her opponent, bouncing from one foot to the other.

“Not even close,” the first year student groaned out, clutching his stomach before coughing a bit.

The young woman scoffed a bit as she kept watching him, reminding Malleus a little of how a predatory animal would stare down their prey...as well as bringing up a very old memory of someone he once knew. However, his mind was snapped back to the present when he heard the first year speak again.

“But I’ll admit, this is getting kind of boring. Time to step it up a notch.” he said as he stood up, pulling his magic pen out from his breast pocket and pointing it toward the young woman.

“Sis! Look out!” a Savanaclaw student exclaimed as the first year’s pen began to glow.

The young woman’s eyes widen a bit when seeing this before quickly rolling out of the way as the first year shot a powerful gust of wind toward her. Malleus let out a small breath he didn’t realize he was holding in when seeing that the young woman looked relatively unscathed.

“Oi! That was a cheap shot!” a Savanaclaw student exclaimed as the young woman quickly got to her feet, her hood falling down as she did.

Once the light hit on the young woman’s face, Malleus’s eyes widen once more. He could swear he felt his heart stop for a moment as he continued to stare at her. This young woman...looked so much like the one he once knew all those decades ago.

“Oi! That was a cheap shot!” a Savanaclaw student exclaimed as Yuki quickly got to her feet, her hood falling down as she did.

“So what?! At least he’s going to actually win now!” a Heartslabyul student exclaimed a bit smugly.

Yuki clicked her tongue and cursed a bit under her breath as she got ready to dodge again in case, pulling out her own magic pen as well.

“Oi! Yuki! Give that stupid trump card a taste of your own magic!” Grim exclaimed from the sidelines. “Fireball his stupid orange hair!”

“Like hell I’m going to throw a fireball at him when he’s going to use wind against me!” Yuki exclaimed as she looked back at Grim.

“Then you better think of something to do or else you’re going to have to keep dodging from him!” Grim yelled back. “And who knows how long you can keep  _ that _ up!”

“I know!” Yuki yelled, looking back toward Ace before jolting and barely managing to jump out of the way of another gust of wind aimed at her.

“Yuki!” Grim exclaimed as he looked over at her with worry. “You okay?!”

“Yeah, I’ll live.” Yuki said, panting a little. “Just got caught a little off guard is all.”

“Then use your magic against him!” Grim yelled. “Seriously! Do something against him!”

“Like what?!” Yuki screeched as she turned to Grim. “I can’t just “Bibbidi-bobbidi-boo” him, now can I?!”

She twirled her pen a bit in the air as she uttered those words before pointing toward Ace, unaware that her gem was pointing at him as well. A bright white light soon shot itself out of her gem and toward Ace, hitting him dead on. Ace let out a surprised yelp as the rest of the crowd went dead silent. Yuki and Grim, on the other hand, widen their eyes in surprise but for very different reasons.

“That’s an actual spell here?!” Yuki whispered yelled to herself as she and Grim slowly turned to look at the result of her little “spell”.

What awaited them was a very bewildered looking Ace...in an elegant looking, flowing red dress with a matching pair of long gloves going halfway up his upper arms. He was even wearing a black choker with a black and red heart pendant in the center of it. It reminded Yuki so much of the one that Cinderella wore to the ball.

“What…” one student began as everyone else stared at Ace, just as bewildered as him.

“Just happened…?” another student finished.

There was a long moment of silence over the group as Ace slowly began to look himself over, having a disgusted look on his face. It wasn’t until he picked the skirt of the dress up a bit, when Yuki saw that he was even sporting a nice pair of ruby red glass slippers to complete the outfit, that the silence was finally broken with her and Grim’s laughter.

“Hey! What are you two laughing about?!” Ace exclaimed as he glared at them.

“I can’t believe it actually worked like that!” Yuki managed to say through her laughter. “Oh my god! I need to tell Uncle about this when I can!”

“Tell your uncle what exactly, Walker-kun?” a familiar sounding voice asked as Yuki noticed a figure coming up to them from the corner of her eye.

“Ah...crap.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My family can tell you that I've been struggling with what to do when Yuki said bibbidi-bobbidi-boo...till around the time my laptop had to go into the shop for about a week. Anyway~ hoped you enjoyed it. I may be doing this again sometime later on in the fic. Maybe. Heheh~


End file.
